A Voice Stayed
by mystica88
Summary: Sequel to A Promise Made. Achmed and Rhapsody continue to work through their new relationship as well as unconver plots to overthrow the Cymrian leadership.
1. chapter 1

**Disclaimer: The characters and settings of this story belong solely to the lovely and talented Ms. Elizabeth Haydon. **

_A/N thank you to all who have left me reviews to my stories so far, I can't tell you how much I love to see that I have gotten a new review. I am sorry that it takes me so long to get another story out, but I'm one who likes to have it all completed before I begin posting. Thank you for your support and I welcome all who read my stories to give a review. I'll never know how to improve without feedback._

_p.s. thanks for the great suggestions secret slashyness, I will most likely go back to Promise and rework it with your's and others suggestions once I finish with my next, and I think, final Rhapsody story._

_p.p.s. I must also give a special thanks to my super awesome Beta and best friend. She really knows how to fix my incredible amount of mistakes and smooth out the rough edges. Also she has helped in various parts that I am just stuck on and can't seem to get out of. She keeps me honest with the characters and catches me when I start to ramble, much like I am now. So with out further ado, here is my next story…_

Chapter 1

Grunthor looked stunned as he looked from Rhapsody to Achmed, from Achmed back to Rhapsody and then back to Achmed once again. The king seemed rather embarrassed about this whole ordeal, but to Grunthor, he seemed happier than he had ever seen him before.

Finally, the Sergeant Major broke the silence, "Well, it's about bloody time!"

Rhapsody giggled and nodded her head while Achmed rolled his eyes and paced of a few strides before turning back to his friends.

"Yes, it does feel that way," Rhapsody replied. "And yet, I still have some things that I need to work out." Turning to Achmed, she said, "I'm going to retire to my room for the evening, I shall see you in the morning. Good night, Achmed," She said as she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Blushing, the king mumbled his good night as well. Then Rhapsody turned and wished Grunthor a good night as well before leaving the room.

There was a moment of silence while the two men looked after the woman who had just left. It always felt like someone had extinguished a pleasantly warm fire whenever she left a room. Finally Achmed let out a sigh as he turned and walked over to the table to pour himself a drink.

As he sat down with his glass, Grunthor asked, "Sir, if ya don' mind my askin, what 'appened?"

"Honestly, I'm not too sure."

"Well, looks like ya finely got all ya wanted, the Duchess, your own kingdom, an' no more water boy."

Achmed leaned back in his chair with a grin playing across his face. It was true; everything finally seemed to be falling into place for him. But, as much as he hated Ashe, it was still a great loss to the world. He had been a very powerful person and with his death there would undoubtedly be unrest within the Cymrian counsel. And an even more depressing thought, their moot was to be held in the next few months. If there was one thing that he absolutely loathed, it was playing host to those stuck up, self-righteous arse-rags.

Grunthor seemed to be following the king's train of thought. "Sir, we're gonna need to start preparin' for that moot."

Sighing Achmed replied, "Yes, I know. We are also going to need to work on an even tighter security net this time. With the death of one of the rulers, there's no telling what might happen. Any major event with these people seems to spark all kinds of trouble and this is no trivial thing, even if it was a long time in coming."

"For some o' us anyway. But Oi figured as much."

"Good, then I will leave that up to you. I am going to have my hands full for a while with figuring out how this new arrangement is going to work," Though Achmed sounded relieved that things were as he had always wanted; a note of irritation was entering his voice. True, he had always longed to have Rhapsody for his own, but now when it came down to it, he was realizing that she was going to be even more difficult to deal with as a lover than a friend and sister. If he had thought that she was no picnic to work with before, now was going to be even worse. But, if that's how it had to be, than that is how it had to be. There was no other option in Achmed's mind now. From here, there was no turning back.

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It was several weeks later that Rhapsody announced that she must return to her duties. "I have been gone for far too long during a very fragile time. With the death of my husband and my son stepping in until this moot coming up, when they can elect a new Lord, there are going to be a lot of emotions to smooth over on the counsel. Also I have neglected my duties with the Lirin for an even longer time. I really must be going to the Lirin court to tidy up a few things and then move on to the Cymrians till shortly before the moot. I trust you are going to be able to handle most of the hosting arrangements as usual, Achmed?"

"Yes, don't I always?" he replied with a hint of irritation.

Bestowing a brief peck on his cheek Rhapsody said, "Thank you. You always know how to please a girl." She added with a wry grin, taking pleasure in seeing his pale skin blush slightly.

"Well, you better get goin' before you wind up stayin' any longer," Grunthor observed.

Achmed shot him a malice filled glance as Rhapsody and the Giant shared a knowing smile.

"Goodbye Grunthor, I'll see you in a couple of months," She said as she disappeared into the giant's arms for a farewell hug.

Rhapsody turned back to Achmed who nodded for her to lead them out. Following her out, he pulled her into a deep embrace after rounding the corner of the doorway. As gently as ever he kissed her perfect lips with a tenderness that the world would never believe possible of one so callus.

"I love you," was all that he said.

"I know, and you know that I love you too. Goodbye Achmed, I will see you soon. I shall think of you during my Aubades, for I know that is when you shall be thinking of me." With that, she pulled from his embrace and turned to leave.

"Rhapsody," he called after her.

Pausing, she turned. "Yes?"

He seemed at a loss of words. He hated this emotional thing; he had no idea what he should be saying at this point.

Returning to his side, she leaned up to him and kissed him one final time before saying, "I know." With that she turned and walked out, leaving Achmed to stare after her until she was out of sight. Then he took a moment to collect himself and straightened before returning once again to the throne room to go over the security plan with his Sergeant Major.


	2. chapter 2

Chapter 2

Tristan Steward sat brooding at his desk. There had to be something that he could do about this. There had to be an open door somewhere in this mess.

News had come to him almost as soon as the Lord had died and since then he did nothing but ponder how this could move him into a better position for power. That, and how he might be able to circumvent his marriage and somehow win over Rhapsody now that her husband was gone. But as much as this was one of his deepest desires, he knew that that would never happen; the Lady loathed him, and he knew it.

So really what he needed to do was figure how he could possibly get the people to elect him as the new Lord instead of her son. It was obvious that Meridion was the best choice and the most likely candidate, but there had to be some possible way to discredit him just enough to move Tristan into the running.

Just then a knock sounded at the door. "Enter," He called.

"Sir, there is someone here to see you. She says that you will want to hear what she has to say."

Thinking that this mysterious "she" might be Rhapsody he replied, "Show her in."

A few moments later a woman entered the room. She had on a long hooded cloak that mostly concealed her face except for the slight hint of blond hair poking out the edges.

Tristan, glancing at her felt the need to hide behind his desk once again as he said, "My Lady, please come in and have a seat."

As the door closed behind the woman, she lowered her hood. Tristan was taken aback for a moment, for this was defiantly not Rhapsody. This woman was quite beautiful, but she could not hold a candle to the goddess-like beauty of Rhapsody. Though there was something of familiar traits to the Lirin singer in this woman. It was something in the blood; this woman most likely had Lirin somewhere in her history, though probably not as much as Rhapsody. She also had the blazing green eyes that Tristan had admired in the Lady Cymrian. But this woman did not have the shy, naïve expression to her that Rhapsody generally wore, unless, or course, she was angered. This woman had a hard set to her as if she had been wise to the world and had become callus and hardened by it. There was something in the set of her jaw that said, "Don't mess with me or I'll rip you to shreds." There was no doubt in Tristan's mind that this woman was not to be trifled with.

"Well, you are not who I had expected. Who are you, exactly?"

"Exactly? I am no one of great importance, but I come representing someone who has taken an interest in you," the woman answered as she gracefully, almost seductively, lowered herself into the chair opposite Tristan.

"Well, that is interesting, but it might help if I could at least have your name."

"Very well. Leah."

"Nice to meet you Leah. Now who is it that you have come to represent, and in what way have they become interested in me?"

"My employer has sent me to tell you that he could help you get everything you ever wanted."

Tristan simply looked down on the girl as if she were a child. These are words he had heard before in many different ways and always it turned out to be fraud or hoax. This girl would probably be no different. "Hmm, is that so. And what is it that I desire?"

"Simply to control the Cymrian counsel as Lord and possibly, if you play your cards right, a marriage to the Lady Rhapsody."

Now Tristan was completely taken aback. Of course this was what he desired beyond all other things but he had never expected this strange woman to know this, let alone seemingly be offering it to him. "And how does your employer think something like this could be brought about?" He tried to ask with complete detachment as well as a bit of sarcasm, but he didn't think he was completely successful in covering up his true interest.

"The man that I represent has a way for you to completely discredit the Lirin singer and her son at the moot with one very easy motion."

"And what would that be?"

"This I can't tell you until you agree to my employer's terms."

"Of course you can't. And what does he wish in return for this information? My soul, I would suppose."

A cruel smile played across Leah's face that disturbed Tristan more than he would like to admit before she answered, "Of course not. It is not nearly so dramatic _this time_."

Something about the way she said "this time" brought a shiver down Tristan's spine. Memories of a night long ago came back to him when he had considered giving up his soul to achieve his desires.

"No, my employer merely wishes you to sign a treaty with him and to help him in like favor to accomplish his goals once you become Lord Cymrian."

"And how can I agree to these terms if I do not even know who your employer is?"

"That will be revealed in time, but these are the terms as stands. You can take it or leave it. But as an added bonus, until the time of your arise to power, I to present myself as a gift to you as good faith. You'll find that I am extremely good at what I do and you won't be disappointed." As she said this last part she had risen up from her chair and began lowering her cloak revealing nothing more than some very tight and scanty lingerie. She began lowering her body closer to him as he looked her over. She was most assuredly very attractive and he began to consider how he might have some use for her.

"The offer seems to have its merits, but what guarantee do I have that your employer will do his part?"

"You have me, and I have everything that you shall need. If you chose to keep me I shall supply you with _everything_ that you need." At this she slipped her hand between his legs and gently began massaging his now hard muscle there.

"You certainly are good. I believe that I shall take you up on your offer. Now how do we seal our deal?"

"Like this." And with that she pulled him out of his chair and began to shed all of her clothing while pulling Tristan's off of him.

This was a sealing that Tristan could get used to.


	3. chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Rial, why do you insist on asking me all these questions when I am here that you are perfectly capable of taking care of yourself when I am gone?" the Lirin Queen asked as she stormed into the throne room of the Lirin court. "The Lirin were able to get on fine without any monarch for centuries. Now that you have one, it seems you have forgotten how you were able to function without."

"I am sorry Your Majesty, but I would think that you would want to oversee what is happening in your country," Rial responded.

"Of course I am interested in what is happening here, but I am no diplomat. Even after all of these years as your Queen and Lady of the Cymrian counsel, I am still just a poor farm girl. I thought that it was understood that this position as Lirin Queen is ceremonial only. I am only a figure head, I have no real power. So why do you come to me pretending I do?"

Rial remained silent, which really was for the better. Rhapsody had been very edgy since she came. He had taken it as the loss of her husband, but really, many things were playing a part in her gloomy mood.

Doubts seemed to be the biggest factor. She would catch herself wishing she were back in Ylorc with Achmed and would have to berate herself for it. Every now and then a situation would come up and she would wonder how angry Achmed would be with her if she chose a certain way. Little things like this had been plaguing her mind since she had left.

Even though she knew that this relationship was a long time in coming and one that she knew she had needed, she could not help but think that it may not be good for her people. As ready to save the world as Achmed was, he still did not always want or even care about what was best for the Lirin or Cymrians.

Shaking herself, Rhapsody pushed these thought aside to focus on her job at hand. She needed to finish up here with the Lirin before moving on the Cymrians. There was still much to prepare for the moot coming up and she needed to be able to think clearly on the good of her people rather than her personal life. She gave an inward sigh as she wrapped up her thoughts. It was tough being in charge of two different peoples and having a life of your own.

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Achmed stepped out onto his ledge, like he did every evening at this time, lowered his veils, and searched to wind for her heart. This was a ritual that he had started a long time ago because the sound and feel of Rhapsody's heart had always had a soothing effect on his senses and to reassure himself that she was still alright.

It was this ritual that had allowed him to know that she was in trouble a few months ago. Thanks to this warning, he and Gwydion Navarne were able to rush to her aid and save her from the evil F'dor. It was this act of saving that had set the ball in motion, so to speak, on their relationship.

Faintly he was able to hear her heart in the distance. He slowed his heart and allowed his own pulse to match with her's. As their pulses aligned, a feeling of calm and ease washed over him. She was where she should be and everything was alright. He heaved a sigh and prepared to break his connection.

But something wasn't right. It wasn't with Rhapsody. No, she was fine. It was something closer to him. There was a presence nearby that should not be there. He remained still, as if he had sensed nothing, but in reality he was slowly reaching for his dagger and preparing for an attack.

Releasing Rhapsody completely, he stood for a minute more as he gauged where this unwanted presence was located.

Just as he had a solid fix on the spot, the attacker suddenly rushed Achmed. Of course, he was now prepared for the onslaught and was able to take the attacker by surprise, rather than being taken by surprise.

It was all over before it even began. Agilely sidestepping the attack, Achmed buried his dagger deep between the man's ribs. As Achmed had planned, he did not stab the man's heart, leaving the man still alive, but in a lot of pain. The man looked down at the dagger that was lost in his rib cage and then looked back up to the king.

"Now, how about you tell me who sent you, hmm?" Achmed said as he shoved the man into a kneeling position.

The man just continued to look stupidly at the knife in his chest. Achmed reached down and viciously yanked the dagger out smiling at the cry of pain that the action elicited.

The man looked up to the king with a blank, confused expression. He didn't seem to know what was happening. Achmed couldn't tell if it was an act or the man couldn't understand why he failed. Or maybe, he really didn't know what was happening.

Achmed stared back down at the man with a merciless scowl. Suddenly the man seemed to convulse as he rose to his feet, looking Achmed squarely in his mismatched eyes. "Your days here are numbered. I'll be seeing you again soon," The man said. And with that he reeled around before Achmed could react and ran off the edge of the cliff.

Achmed ran after him and watched as the man plummeted to the jagged rocks below, crushing and killing the only source of information the king had in figuring out who wanted him dead. But what worried the king the most was the last comment that the man had made. It seemed self explanatory, the man was sure that Achmed would soon be joining him in the afterlife. But there seemed to be something more to the statement than the Dhracian was able to grasp.

He stood staring down at the body for a moment longer before turning and walking back into the Cauldron. Something was not right. How is it that man managed to infiltrate his kingdom and get so close to the king? And who was trying to have him killed?

This was not the first time that an attempt had been made on his life, but nothing like this had happened to him a very long time. A peace had been ruling over the nations and had not yet showed any signs of ending soon. This may be the first sign of troubles to come.

By now, Achmed had reached the throne room once again where Grunthor was still lounging by the fire, using a wicked looking dagger to pick the dirt from under his claw-like nails.

"Wha'choo doin' back 'ere? I thought you'd retired fir da night," the giant asked.

"We have a problem. At the bottom of the cliff you'll find the body of a man that was trying to kill me," Achmed replied simply.

Grunthor looked up at the king and sat his dagger down on the table. "Now 'ow did that 'appen?"

"I don't know. But I don't want it happening again. If a man is able to get that close to me, there's no telling how far the next will be able to penetrate."

Quickly standing, Grunthor strode out of the room and down the hall to the king's chambers. Achmed followed him, knowing exactly where they were heading. It had been his intention all along to check on the Earth Child with Grunthor anyway.

The two carefully undid the locks and traps that were still in place without any evidence of tampering before descending to the Loritorium. The gentle flicker of light from the fire well in the back softly illuminated the slumbering earth child. She slept on in peace, completely undisturbed.

"Well, it seems that she's still alright," The giant sighed.

Achmed looked down at the child's face for a moment longer, lost in thought. "Yes," he finally said. "Nothing has disturbed her. The attack may have been meant solely for me." Taking one final glance at the sleeping child's face, he turned and began walking back up the tunnel entrance with Grunthor following behind him.

After the two companions were once again in Achmed's chambers with the tunnel again sealed behind them, the king turned to his friend saying, "It seems that there is more than one reason to have doubled up security for this moot. If an assassin was able to get this close to me now, then it will be even easier for another when these mountains are crawling with strangers in another two months."

"Oi'm sure that oo ever tried this will 'ave thought o' that too."


	4. chapter 4

Chapter 4

Rhapsody showed up at her palace a week later, still as flustered and distracted as she had been in Tyrian. No one had known that she was coming and so, Meridion knowing more then most people, he was the only one there at her arrival.

"Welcome back, mother," he said as she dismounted from her roan, giving her a warm greeting hug.

"Hello Meridion, I have missed you," she answered, lingering a while in her son's embrace. It felt so good to be back, but it was also still very painful. She had left so quickly after Gwydion's death because the place reminded her of him and caused her immense pain. This was the first time that she had been back to the palace and she found that the hurt had subsided a bit, but was still there.

Meridion seemed to know what his mother was thinking. "Mother, I miss him too. He will always be with us in this place."

Rhapsody pulled from her son's arms and nodded slowly, "I know."

Turning, Meridion placed his hand on his mother's back and began to guide her toward the door. "I have missed you also in dealing with the counsel; they have been quite testy since father's departure and then your sudden disappearance."

"Oh Meridion, I'm so sorry. I knew that I shouldn't have left you alone to deal with them, but I just couldn't stay here a moment longer."

Smiling sadly, he quickly replied, "I know, I know. I wasn't blaming you for leaving. You had a lot that you needed to work out and this place was not the place to do that. It was too full of memories as well as absent of the one that you needed the most."

Rhapsody stopped for a moment. Meridion continued walking for a few steps before turning back to her, a questioning glance in his eye.

"I can't believe how selfish I have been. Not only did I drive my husband to have me kill him, but I haven't thought about how you might feel because of all of this."

"Mother, I told you from the beginning that I knew what you would do and what would happen before I ever left. I could have stopped all of it from ever happening, but I knew, despite the pain that it would cause all of us, that more good than bad would come of it. You and Achmed were always meant to be together. Somehow, I have always known this and I can't stop thinking that somehow it is my fault that you are not. Father was ready to leave us and it would have been a struggle and agony for him to stay with us any longer. And even your kidnapping turned out to be good since it forced Achmed and Gwydion to chase the F'dor and slay it. Everything that happened has been for the better. How can I be angry or upset with you about events that were out of your control?"

"But they weren't! Sure, my capture and the events that took place because of that were out of my control, but I could have returned to the palace after that. I chose to go to Ylorc. It was my choice to ignore the marriage vows that I had taken, which ultimately drove your father to his death. Nothing after the death of the F'dor was out of my control. I held all the cards and I played poorly. And what kind of mother am I that in my decision making that I never thought about how I was affecting my son? In one brief moment, I became the type of person that I loath. A whoring, unthinking, unfit mother," she concluded as she began to slowly dissolve into battled tears.

Meridion quickly returned to her side, bringing her once again into his arms as he tried to reassure her. "Shh… Mother, please don't do this to yourself. You have not been any of those things. You have acted with your heart and even if your heart caused pain in others, it could not be thought of as wrong. To act purely from the heart is what you have always taught me that I should do; don't take that lesson back now."

Still fighting back the unwanted saline that threatened to outpour, Rhapsody lifted her head slightly to look into her son's eyes. She stared deep into them for some time, hoping to find that his words were true. Finally, she determined that all he had told her was the truth, but even still she knew she could never feel completely at ease with her actions. She knew that she must accept what she did and where she was now, but the regret for hurting the ones she loves will always be there. Still, she knew that, even though she would always hurt, she didn't need to worry about what her son thought of her, he still loved her and that was all that she needed right then.

"Thank you Meridion. I needed to hear that and I know that you are not just saying that to make me feel better, you truly do believe that."

Smiling down at his mother he said, "That is another thing that you taught well, always tell the truth." Then, giving his mother another comforting squeeze, he turned once again and with one arm still around her, led her through the entrance of the palace.

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"It's so good to have you back with us again Lady Rhapsody, we could really use your gift of soothing tempers and nerves here," a counsel member said to the Lady as her first counsel meeting began since the death of her husband.

Sighing, Rhapsody said, "I know, Bartak. I should have been here sooner, but I had many things that needed to be taken care of outside of the Alliance. But I am here now."

"And for that we are grateful."

"Now, what is the first thing that we need to discuss today?" The Lady asked.

The counselors looked one to another for a moment before looking back to her in awkward silence.

Rhapsody looked to each one, wondering what was going on that these people would so suddenly become silent.

"Well, what is it?"

Another moment of silence passed before Meridion cleared his throat to respond. "Though these fine men have been rather tight lipped about the matter while you have been gone, I believe I know what it is that they wish to discuss."

Turning to her son, Rhapsody asked, "And what would that be?"

"They wish to know what your plans are for a new marriage and if I am to continue to be the Lord if you do decide to remarry."

The only indication that Meridon's comments angered the Lady was the suddenly flash of brilliant green in her eyes and quick flush of red to her cheeks. That and the fire in the fire place gave a start, consuming a larger quantity of timber than it had previously been burning through.

Other than these reactions, Rhapsody's demeanor and voice didn't change in the slightest as she turned back to the counsel and asked, "Is this true?"

Slowly and cautiously, every man around the table nodded their head in affirmation. Bartak cleared his throat and braved a response to the Lady. "Your majesty, we feel that, though this may seem like a rather sudden thing to be considering so soon after your husband's death, you must admit that the alliance is more than a little unstable now. We feel that it would be better to know for certain who is in charge and who, if anyone, is going to have an influence over those in charge. There is a general sense of unrest in the land right now with their one of their rulers suddenly gone."

Taking a moment to breathe, Rhapsody slowly and carefully responded, "I currently have no intention of remarrying. I am currently seeing the Bolg king, King Achmed, but we have decided that a marriage is out of the question between us. As for Meridion, his position as Lord is out of our hands in a little under two months. The moot will be held then and the people will elect who they wish to be Lord along side of me. Meridion knew from the start that his position may be only temporary as someone was needed to fill Gwydion's place until the next moot."

The counsel all looked at Rhapsody as if she had just said the last things that they had ever expected to hear. None of them had even thought that with the moot so close they would use it to democratically elect the next Lord Cymarian. And the announcement that Rhapsody was "seeing" the Bolg king was so distant in anyone's mind that they were all shocked into sudden silence once again.

Looking around at each and every one of the counsel members, Rhapsody dared any of them to contest what she had just told them. All of them should have known that the only way to have a true new Lord Cymrian would be to elect one at the next moot. And to hell with any of them who would tell her who she could and could not see.

It was Meridion who broke the awkward silence suddenly. "Well," he began with a smile. "Now that this issue is obviously settled, why don't we move on the next item on our agenda today? I believe that that would be preparations for the fast approaching moot."

Sudden reanimation hit the counsel as they all jumped at the welcomed change in subject.

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It was sometime afterward that the counsel broke up for the day, leaving Rhapsody and Meridion alone, sipping on Dol Mwr beside the fireplace.

"I am truly glad that I have at least you on my side in these matters Meridion," Rhapsody voiced.

Meridion simply nodded. A far off look glazed across his eyes. Rhapsody had caught him looking this way several times during the meeting and was seriously wondering what it was that he was thinking about, or maybe even seeing.

"Meridion, what is it? You have been fading in and out now for some time."

Shaking himself, Meridion turned and looked his mother in the eyes. "I'm not sure what is wrong, that is the problem."

"What do you mean?"

"I have been trying now for months to look at what is going to happen at the moot. At first it was because I was curious if I was to be elected as the new Lord. But now…" He trailed off as his gaze unfocused once again.

"Meridion? Meridion, what is it?" Rhapsody was beginning to be rather frightened by the tone and demeanor her son was giving her.

Again, Meridion seemed to come back to himself as he began to explain. "I'm not sure if I have ever really tried to explain what it is that I see when I look into the future, Mother, but I think now is the time to try."

Looking back at her son, Rhapsody simply nodded, knowing that something very important was happening and that she must now devote all of her concentration on what her son had to say.

Taking a deep breath to order his thoughts, Meridion began, "Looking into the future is always very different from looking to the past or even at the present. The past is set, it cannot be changed, new choices cannot be made. With the present, you can't really see where anything is going or where it came from, so choices and changes in things are hard to see. It is when you look into the future that things become difficult to determine.

You see, the future is not yet set. At least, our particular future is not set. The problem is that at any time a choice is presented in the present, the outcome of that choice will affect the future. And, because a choice could go either way, many times the future splits and two different time lines are born. This really is somewhat rare, despite the multitude of choices that are made every single moment of every single day. But in most cases, a choice is set in stone; it is so obvious that really time has no choice but to flow in one direction. But, sometimes, a choice or a situation has the possibility to go either way, or even, in multiple directions. When this happens, more than one time line will exist.

'Do you follow me so far?"

Rhapsody looked back at her son, thinking that she may have some understanding at least in the theory of what he was saying but she wasn't sure if she understood the principle of his words. "Are you saying that at this moment, there may be an entirely different set of us having this conversation in a different time line?"

"Sort of. Though, that may be possible, it is very unlikely. You see, the situations that cause a change in a time line are usually so large that similar instances between each line are not very likely. For example, say that if you had been unable to slay the first F'dor that you encountered. If you had, instead, become a Thrall to it and it had been allowed to live and carry out its mission of destruction, do you think that we would be having this conversation?"

"No, in fact, you probably would never have even been born."

"Exactly. These instances of pivotal change stick out like cross roads along the time line. Each one will branch out into two or more different paths. When I look down this timeline, I am only able to see the path that I am currently traveling. I am unable to look into anything that has not happened, or will happen for me. Are you still with me?"

"I think so; you are only capable of seeing one reality. You cannot see what would have happened or might have happened if an outcome of a choice or situation was different."

"Correct. Now because of this, when one of these forks in time occurs in the future, I cannot see what outcome will become of it. When time doesn't know which way its path will continue to flow, it bottles up; it simply will not flow beyond that point until we have reached it. Our choices determine what path it will follow. And so, since time has not actually been written beyond that point, I am unable to see what is to happen."

Taking all this confusing information in, Rhapsody sat in thought for a moment. She was sure that she understood the ideas that Meridion was explaining to her, but she was not sure why it was that he was explaining it to her in the first place. Slowly and uncertainly, she began. "I think I understand. But, are you saying that one of these forks in time is coming up, that there is a point coming that will fracture the timeline?"

Slowly, Meridion nodded. "Yes. For sometime now, I have been completely been unable to look beyond this up coming moot. Many things are converging on that point in time putting too much stress on time itself for it to know where it is to go."

"This moot, the meeting that is to take place in less than two months, is going to be one of the rarely occurring spots in time that could change everything?"

"I'm afraid so. Either that or I have lost my ability to see into time. And since I can see the events leading up to the moot and all that has happened in the past and is happening in the present, I would guess that this is not the case."

Putting a hand to her temple, Rhapsody sat back in her chair as she allowed the impact of the situation to wash over her. Something was going to happen at this moot and there was no way to know what it was. The entire future of her people was to be decided at this one event and there seemed no way to prepare for it.

Reading her thoughts, Meridion said gently, "There really is nothing that we can do about this. The best we can do is keep our eyes open and hope that we make the right decisions. Other than that, all we can do is ride this river of time as far as it will allow us."

"I never realized before how much of a burden your gift was until now. I almost wish that I had never known about this. If there is nothing that can be done for it, then ignorance almost seems better."

"So it seems at times, but it is yet another choice that has been taken from us. Time determined that I should be allowed to look upon it to a certain point. I am bound to report what it is that I am allowed to see and no more. Time is the most fickle of the elements, and the most volatile. We must tread carefully from here."


	5. chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Sir, a missive jus' came from the duchess," Grunthor said as he entered the room where Achmed sat pouring over maps and plans for his security net.

Looking up, Achmed reached out his hand to take the letter. Quickly tearing it open, he scanned through it before dropping it on the table with a slight smile. "It seems that Rhapsody and Meridion are going to be here soon to make sure that everything is being taken care of before the Cymrians start arriving."

"Oh good. Oi'm sure that's great to hear."

Nodding, Achmed returned to scanning over the plans in front of him. Time seemed to drag on as he checked and doubled checked every possible problem that might go wrong with these plans. Grunthor had long left and retired for the night when Achmed finally sat back from the table and closed his eyes for a moment.

A whisper of a breeze brushed across his face. As small and insignificant that the draft had felt, he knew that there was no reason for it. Someone had opened the secret door in the back of the room that lead up a staircase to the Teeth. Achmed was not as alone as he had thought.

Unfortunately, this was all that he had time to register before the attack came. Leaping from behind, a lithe figure wrapped its arms around his neck as a knife was plunged into the king's left shoulder. No doubt the attacker had been aiming for his heart, but Achmed did have enough time to begin to pull away from them enough to change the impact point. Hissing in pain, Achmed forced his way out of the hold the attacker had on him, shoving his chair into the other's ribs.

Spinning around, Achmed saw the cloaked figure rise quickly, holding its ribs and gaining a better grip on the knife that it still held. Drawing his own sword, Achmed stood ready for the next attack. The figure moved out from behind the chair and, without warning, dropped into a roll and came up inches from the king. But unfortunately for them, Achmed was even quicker. The attacker came up right onto his sword, impaled before they even knew what had happened. The attacker fell to the ground, dead. The sword had been stabbed right through the heart.

"Bloody hrekin," Achmed swore under his breath as he reached back to clamp his right hand over the wound in his shoulder. Warm blood oozed through his fingers as he watched the attacker's blood pool under the body. Bending over, Achmed tore the veil from the attacker's face and was mildly surprised to see a woman. And not just any woman, but a Lirin woman. This was something new. First a man attacks him, then a Lirin woman. What is the connection?

Loud footfalls were heard racing up the hall as Achmed continued to look over the body for any clues as to who may have sent her. Suddenly, the doors were violently thrown open as a raging giant entered the room.

Taking one quick look at the scene, Grunthor let out an enraged howl that shook the mountain, waking the entire Cauldron.

"What 'appened 'ere?" The giant demanded.

"Much the same as before. The assassin snuck up from behind in an attempt to catch me off guard. Almost succeeded this time too," Achmed grumbled as his put his hand back to examine his wound once again.

On the edge of being livid, Grunthor stormed about the room rumbling as Achmed finished his search. "'Ow could this 'appen? We 'ave over twice as many guards at each entrance!"

Finishing his search, the king sat heavily down in his now righted chair with a soft grunt of pain. "It seems we left at least one entrance unguarded. I had thought that the entrance on the Teeth was unknown and didn't need guarding. I guess I was wrong."

""Ow did they know 'o this one? The only way they could is…"

"The only way anyone would have known about that entrance is if they were here back when the place still belonged to Gwylliam. And even then, it would have to be someone who was close to the king or built it."

"Why don' I like the sound o' that?"

Shaking his head, Achmed leaned forward against the table edge, still holding his shoulder as blood continued to seep through his fingers.

"Oo might want ta get that taken care o' sir," Grunthor suggested.

"Yes, I know. I'll take a trip down to the hospice. You could clean this mess up and seal that entrance for now."

"O' course, sir."

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How could this have happened again? And this time it was close, too close. Achmed stormed down the halls on his way to the hospice as these thoughts pounded in his head. This was getting a little unnerving that assassins were seemingly gaining such easy access to him. It was extremely difficult for an assassin to pull off an assassination on a former assassin, but it apparently was not impossible.

Achmed kicked himself mentally when he thought how stupid he had been to think that the mountain top entrance was not an option. How many times had he used these very types of ways in to get at his own targets? He felt that it was as if he had gone brain dead for a moment. Spending all of those hours pouring over the plans and maps and still he missed that one point of vulnerability. It was sickening.

Krinsel was there in the hospice when he stormed in. He was glad that it was her and not some other since she knew to not ask questions about what had happened to him. She was one of his Archons and so was trusted with the inner workings of the mountain. He would not have to worry about word spreading that he was injured through her mouth.

Krinsel quickly cleaned the wound and stitched it up without a word. Finally, she secured a bandage over it to keep it clean and to keep it from seeping. As soon as she was done, Achmed grunted a word of thanks to her and left just as suddenly as he had arrived. He had more plans to make tonight.


	6. chapter 6

Chapter 6

Bone tired and eye sore, Achmed made his way down to the Loritorium. He had been up for what must have been days on end now going over the plans for the security of the mountain. Not only was he sleep deprived, but he had been on constant alert since this most recent attempt on his life. He felt that living as a king in his own mountain kingdom may have begun to soften him and allow him to let down his guard.

Now, since the last attack, he was constantly searching the air for unfamiliar vibrations and strange rhythms. All of his senses were on overload and he needed a place to relax and let his alertness go for a moment. The Lortoritum was the best place that he could think of for that purpose. It was, without a doubt, the most secure place in his entire mountain. There was only one way in and it was loaded with security measures, not to mention the one entrance itself could only be reached through his bedroom which was now under heavy guard.

He had debated whether to go down. He knew that Rhapsody was on her way and that she would be there within the next few hours. He wanted desperately to meet her upon her arrival like he should have the last time she came to Ylorc, but he wasn't sure that he could stand another moment of the tearing vibrations that ripped at his sensitive skin for a moment longer.

He would emerge just as she arrived and bring her back down here with him. After all, this was the place where they had sealed their new life together, what better place than this to welcome her back.

But then the thoughts that he had been fighting off since she had left came back to haunt Achmed's mind. What if in the time that she had come she realized what a terrible mistake she had made? He knew that she was all that he had ever wanted for an achingly long time now, but he also had never expected that she too would feel the same for him. It never added up right in his mind that she should choose to be with him.

It would just fit that coming this close to holding his desires that it should fall from him. That was how he had come to see life, as a constant struggle for desires that would always be just beyond reach. At least, that was how he perceived his own life. Rhapsody's on the other hand…

Rhapsody, though she had faced many trails, always seemed able to touch and hold on to her desires and dreams. She had crossed time and space to be reunited with her first love. She brought the Lirin together again and became their Queen. Whatever she set out to accomplish, she did it. How could it be that someone who could have anything in life would choose him?

Shaking his head of these thoughts, he moved closer to the sleeping child and looked down upon her peaceful face. This child was all that he could ever be certain of. As long as the world turned, she would need to be protected from the F'dor and it was his duty to give protection. No matter what else might happen, this child was his first priority.

Drawing peace from the certainty of that fact, he sat down beside her bed of stone and leaned with his back against it. Feeling another rush of weariness, he closed his eyes and slowly drifted into a light slumber.

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It was not very long after that Rhapsody arrived at Ylorc. When, again, Achmed was not present at her arrival, she knew where to find him. This time, not as consumed with grief and self doubt, she had no problem going to him instead of waiting for him to come to her.

Quietly, she slipped into his chambers and undid the locks to the Lortorium entrance before descending down the passage. When she reached the room of her destination, she could faintly make out by the light of the fire well a darkened form leaning against the bed of the sleeping child. A peaceful smile crossed her face as she carefully walked over to both the sleeping child and sleeping king.

When she reached Achmed's side she kneeled down and positioned herself by him, leaning against the living stone and laying her head on his shoulder. No sooner had her head brushed against him did he wake up. Rhapsody was surprised at his sudden start and tensing when he awoke before relaxing once again. Normally, Achmed would have known, even in his sleep that it was she who was so near him and would not have given such a reaction to her.

Slowly sitting up and looking at him she asked, "Achmed, what's wrong?"

He sat still for a moment longer before replying in his usual cynical tone, "You startled me out of a sleep I had no intention on taking and ask me what's wrong? You're lucky that I didn't kill you on the spot."

"Achmed, you always know when it's me."

"Well, this time I didn't," He said with a ring of finality. He had no intention of discussing with her what had happened while she was gone; it would only upset her. Besides, he didn't even want to admit to himself how close he had come to dying, let alone to his love.

"I am sorry," Rhapsody amended, but with a hint of further question in her voice. She knew that he wasn't telling her something, but it was apparent that he was not going to tell her anything more.

"But this is no greeting to give a lover after months of separation," she said as she approached him once again, giving him a warm embrace, followed by a deep kiss. As they reluctantly parted Rhapsody said, "I have missed you. Tell me, what has been going on around here since I left."

"Just more and more preparations for your damned moot. There's a lot of security concerns this year with the death of your husband."

Nodding, Rhapsody could tell that there was still something that he was holding back but decided to let it go and move on. "Well, I'm here now to help with whatever I can. Meridion will be along in a day or so, he suggested I leave a little before him as he wrapped things up back home."

Nodding, Achmed reached his arm out to warp around her shoulders as he began to guide her towards the exit. "Fine. Though I do have some questions for your son, it is nice that he has allowed us a day alone together."

Rhapsody smiled and allowed herself to be taken back up to the King's chambers.

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Meanwhile, in Bethany, another couple was having a conversation of a different kind.

"Now Leah, you really have lived up to everything you said you would, accept one small thing. The moot is a week away and I still have not heard what the plan is for getting the Cymrians to elect me as their next Lord instead of that stuck up son of Rhapsody's," Tristan began as he sat up in the bed that they had been sharing.

Rolling over on to her stomach and looking up at him, Leah replied, "No, I haven't. But I believe now would be a perfect time to clue you in." With that, she slid off of the bed and walked over to where her cloak lay thrown over a desk at the other side of the room. Tristan could see her reach into a pocket sown to the inside and pull something small out.

"This," she began as she walked back over to Tristan, "is a very powerful drug. The person who ingests a few drops of this will fall into a deep sleep. So deep that to the untrained eye, it will seem that the person is dead."

"Interesting, go on."

"The plan is that at the moot, the night before the election is held, you shall be the one to fall into this deep sleep. I will then use what skill I have at making it look like you have been grievously injured and that somebody had attacked you. With that, the Lady shall be summoned to your tent to examine you and declare that you are indeed dead."

"Wait, I'm not sure that's a good idea, she will probably be able to tell I'm not. And besides, where does me faking my death get me in respect to becoming Lord? They have a tendency to only elect someone who is alive."

"Patience, dear one. The girl will find you dead; she has been fooled by the drug before and will so again. Now, after she has determined that you are truly dead, I will ask her to herald this news to all of the Cymrians at once at the moot on the morrow. I shall tell her that it would be good for everyone to get a good night's sleep before hearing of the terrible news and it would be such an honor for your death to be herald to the people by the Lady herself. Then, after she leaves, I shall administer the antidote to you, where upon you shall awake and stay hidden in your tent until the morning. Then, right after she announces your death to the people, you shall show yourself. You shall claim that it was her own son who attacked you and that she knew it, that she was covering for him. And, in fact, she had known that you were not dead and simply left you to die so that you would not get in the way of her son's election.

This will, no doubt, cause the Lady great pain as she will have lied to all of her people once again in reporting your death, making her not much use in her son's defense. And it will also leave enough doubt in the minds of the people that Meridion may not be the best choice for the job and leave you with a fair amount of sympathy votes."

Tristan thought this over for a moment before asking, "And how does this win me Rhapsody? You said before that if I played my cards right I might gain her, how does calling her a liar and conspirator win her over to me?"

"This part shall be up to you. You must go to her after you are elected with apologies and comfort. She will be quite distressed over the whole affair. I will have the evidence that you will need to prove to her that it was her son that had attacked you but you have since discovered that she had nothing to do with it. This should at least crack her shell a bit for you to begin inserting your charm."

"And hopefully a bit more than that," Tristan said with a wicked smile. "This could work. Of course, if it doesn't, I could be in a lot of trouble."

"Well, the worst that could happen is that they still don't elect you, though I can't see how that would happen. They will never find any evidence of the drug and that is the only thing that could tie any of this back to you. And if, by chance, they begin to suspect you, I will have left evidence behind that it was me who had engineered the plot and I will be long gone before anyone could lay a hand on me. So you see, you really can't lose here, no matter what the out come. If it should fail, you at least got a few months of wonderful pleasure from me with no repercussions to you. And, of course, if it doesn't, then you will be the next Lord Cymrian."


	7. chapter 7

Chapter 7

Another day began and Achmed woke once again to his dream sleeping beside him. It still boggled his mind that she still chose to be here. Such elegance and beauty should never willingly choose to be beside the roughly misshapen being that he was.

But it was her choice. She chose to be here with him and she didn't seem to be trying to back out of this situation anytime soon. Although, Achmed couldn't help feeling that something was missing between them that would ensure their survival together. As deep and passionate their love was growing, there seemed no guarantee that it should remain so. Every time she left his side, he would worry that she may not return, that there were no bonds between them that would keep her coming back to him.

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Rhapsody awoke to see Achmed pacing at the foot of the bed. He seemed to be deep in thought, so she decided that it might be best to let him believe that she was still asleep and continue in his thinking. Of course this would never work since Achmed knew the second that she was awake just by the slight quickening in her heart rate.

Pausing in mid pace, he looked back to her, she still appeared to be asleep, but he knew she wasn't. Why would she feign sleep like this? Did she not yet wish to face him yet? Maybe it took a certain amount of preparation on her part in order to be able to stand his hideousness.

This thought came like a blow to the head for the king. Quickly, he threw on his cloak and left the room to wonder his mountain kingdom until he had regained his nerve. And hopefully, Rhapsody would be able to face him by then.

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Silently, Rhapsody swore to herself. She realized, after he had gone, that he would have known the second she had awaken even if she didn't appear to be awake. Now she probably hurt him in some way by pretending to still be asleep. But something had been bothering Achmed before she ever woke up and she could tell that he needed to work out whatever it had been. Of course there always was the strong possibility that what had been bothering him had something to do with her.

Letting out a sigh, Rhapsody rose and began to dress as she let her mind wonder on its own. What if he had been thinking about her, or more precisely, about them? Maybe he still was unsure about their relationship together. She could see how being rulers of two different nations and becoming lovers was putting an entirely new strain on them. Maybe this strain was one that Achmed didn't know how to deal with.

The more she thought about this, the more she thought it to be the likely problem. At first, she was a bit angered that he wasn't talking to her about this problem instead of internalizing it like he was. But then she realized that he was still very set in his ways, and this was a typical Achmed move to make. They had not been together for very long now, and a good part of that time they were separated. Achmed was not used to being able to think of them as being a single unit. He still believed that he had to deal with all of his own issues and that no one could or would help him.

But, as it stood, he was not able to think of them as being a single unit that could work out things between them, that could share burdens and rejoice in each others triumphs. And for that matter, Rhapsody was having a hard time with this concept as well.

She stopped as this knew realization came to her. Something was missing that allowed her to think that way, but what was it? She and Ashe had done this so well together, could it be that she still didn't completely trust Achmed? No, that wasn't it, she told herself quickly. She knew that she could trust Achmed with all of her heart, body, and mind and he would never purposefully hurt her. But if that wasn't it, what was it?

She wanted nothing more than to go find Achmed and talk to him, but the problem was, though he could track her with no difficulty, she could not him. Or could she? She stopped and thought for moment; perhaps she could track him much the same way that he tracked her.

The way that he was always able to find her was because he could hear the heartbeats of anyone who originally came from the long lost Island of Serendair. But more than that, he was able to lock onto particular vibration patterns that a certain heartbeat created in the surrounding air. If it was a vibrational pattern that he was using to track those heartbeats, then in theory, she could track in the same way.

She was certainly able to pick up vibrations on the wind being a Namer. And she also knew Achmed's vibration signature almost as well as she knew her own. After all, they had been together for over 1500 years, and it was she who contributed to that pattern by giving him his name in the first place.

But now that she was certain that she would be able to find him if she truly wanted to, the question was, should she? She was sure that he would not hesitate to use his tie to her heart to find her when he felt like it, but knowing that it was she he was hiding from, should she disturb him? It might just make matters worse, but on the other hand, they needed to talk about issues between them or they would never get any better.

This relationship certainly was more difficult than her last. Of course they had gone through a lot of pain and trails to get to the point that they had been, but through it all, they never doubted the love that they had for each other. Circumstances prevented them showing this love and acting upon it, but it was always present and the love and companionship they shared had never needed work.

Achmed was a different case. He wasn't her soul mate like Ashe had been; he was more like a soul match. The love that they had was still true, but it was not a given thing. Of course they would always love each other, but understanding and liking one another was an entirely different thing. And with one like Achmed, understanding was a huge issue.

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The King paced down the path towards where the ruins of Elysian lay. He had never found a reason to reconstruct Rhapsody's hideaway after it was destroyed by Anwyn. The dragon had left the place in ruins and had collapsed the dome firmament ceiling at her rising. Now, he wished that he had, if only for his own place to escape to.

In the past, the Lortorium was his sanctuary when he needed to get away. Now, with Rhapsody so close and so many memories of them in the room, it didn't seem like a very good place to be alone. Though he had hated Elysian for the water that had surrounded the house, it had been a very calming and peaceful place.

But he had not bothered to reconstruct the place since Rhapsody had come too little often to Ylorc and was never there very long when she did. Now he just used the path to pace on as he continued to fret about this new liaison.

_This is so difficult_, he thought for the hundredth time. He still didn't know how to deal with his emotions and feelings for Rhapsody. Things had been so much easier when he could love her in silence. There had been nothing that he had to worry about, nothing that he had to do. But he realized that he had not been complete and satisfied to live like that. Things as they were now was what he had needed all those years, but still it was a painful process sifting though the tumultuous rush of emotions that assaulted his senses.

_Everything just seemed so complicated now_, Rhapsody thought to herself. Once she had been comfortable and content as Achmed's closest friend. But that night when she realized that he had wanted more than that she understood that she had too. She had known in some corner of her mind for a long time before that night, but to act upon those feelings had never been a consideration.

Now, here she was, the lover to the king of Firbolg, sitting in his chambers getting dressed after a night spent with him. In just a few short months her entire life and thought processes had been rewritten.

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Grunthor decided that is was time for the two love birds to wake up. It was nearing the noon hour and his scouts informed him that Meridion was on his way to the Cauldron. Of course he would never dream of busting in on the two of them, given that he liked his position as Sergeant Major, but he could subtly rouse them. Marching by the door once singing a marching cadence of his would certainly do the trick. It would be enough to wake them or just to get their attention back to the real world long enough to realize the time.

So he set off down the corridors to the king's chambers. But as the giant was rounding the bend of the hall that led to the room, he noticed a slight shadow slipping through the door, into the chambers. Confused at this, he doubled his pace and, despite his bulk, flew through the door just as silently as the pervious figure had.

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Finally, Rhapsody decided that she ought to find and talk to Achmed before it was too late. No doubt Meridion would arrive soon and much of their time would be taken up with preparations for the moot. It seemed that it was going to have to be now or never.

With this decision firmly reached, she got up off the bed and walked the few steps to the chair where Daystar Clarion lay sheathed. Just as she turned her back to the door to lift and draw the sword to use in locating the king, a slight gush of air rushed across the back of her neck. Before she had time to react to this sensation, a huge booming voice shouted an order that she had no choice but to obey.

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As Grunthor entered the room at a high rate of speed he immediately took in the scene and what was about to happen. The shadowy figure stood between him and what had to be the cloaked and hooded form of Rhapsody. The girl had her back to the intruder and seemed to have no notice that anyone else was in the room.

The intruder held a crossbow with the bolt aimed directly at the singer's back. Without thinking, the Sergeant Major hollowed a command to the girl, "Duck!"

Acting on deep instinct to always obey his orders, Rhapsody dropped to the floor with her sword still in hand. She rolled and came up into a kneeling position facing the opposite direction with her sword now drawn. She found herself facing a swathed figured with a crossbow aimed too high to hit her in her current position and a charging giant rushing up behind it, murder written all over his face.

Simultaneously Rhapsody thrust her sword up through the attackers abdomen to come through the upper back on the other side while Grunthor drew Friend Maker lightening fast and removed the head from the shoulders. The body crumpled to the floor as the head rolled a few feet to stare blankly at the ceiling above.

Silently, the two companions stared at each other for a moment before the giant lifted Rhapsody from the floor to stand beside him.

"It's a good thing Oi was comin' to wake ya when Oi did or this 'ere assassin woulda gotten ta kill one monarch. Course Oi doubt that ya were the intended target," Grunthor said as he and Rhapsody looked down at the body.

"What do you mean? Why would someone send an assassin to kill Achmed?"

"Oi don' know. But this 'ere was the third one to get in Ylorc an' the firs' two were definitely after his majesty."

"Gods," the lady muttered. "This must have been what had Achmed so on edge when I got here."

Grunthor simply nodded as he began to clean up the mess of the body.


	8. chapter 8

Chapter 8

After many hours of wandering the mountain paths by himself, Achmed finally returned to the Cauldron to find that Meridion had only just arrived. He and his mother were seriously conversing in a quiet corner of the thrown room as they awaited the King's return.

Scowling as usual, Achmed strode over to the two to find out what they were so adamantly discussing.

Rhapsody was the first to notice his presence and quickly rose to meet him. Giving him a quick hug she said, "I'm very sorry about this morning, but we can talk about that another time. Something happened while you were gone that we need to talk about."

Slightly embarrassed that Rhapsody had mentioned something of their personal relationship in front of her son and more than a little concerned about what might have happened, he simply nodded and allowed her to guide him to the table that they had been sitting at.

When they were next to the table, Meridion rose and took Achmed's hand giving him a firm warm hand shake of greeting. "It has been awhile since I have seen you King Achmed. It is good to see you again."

Not sure what to make of this, as he had thought that Meridion would hate him for causing his father's death, again Achmed nodded slightly and returned the hand shake in a mildly interested sort of way before releasing the hand and taking a place at the table.

"Achmed, first off, you need to know that I have found out what has happened since I went away last," Rhapsody started.

"And what would that be?"

"That two assassination attempts were made on your life, and one came dangerously close to being pulled off."

Shock and anger flared at her words. This was something that he didn't want anyone to know of that didn't already. And the only one who really knew the details of what had happened was Grunthor. Immediately the King knew that his oldest friend had ratted him out to at least the Lady and if not to the Lord before, then he certainly knew now.

"Is this what you so desperately need to talk about? I don't see how any of this information concerns either of you," the King replied coldly.

"You don't see how it concerns us? I can't believe you Achmed!" Rhapsody started. "We have finally begun to get close and now you're telling me that attempts on your life are no concern of mine or that of my son? How dare you think like that! Not only would something like this affect me emotionally, it has the possibility to put us and the people that are coming here for the moot in physical danger. It has already put me in harms way and if you had told me from the start what had been happening, maybe I would not have been caught quite so off guard."

Anger had been building on Achmed's part throughout Rhapsody's speech right up to the last part. Suddenly his anger evaporated and left him looking back at her blankly for a moment before he was able to ask, "What are you talking about?"

"After you left the room this morning I had an uninvited visitor who was nearly able to bury a crossbow bolt through my heart, and probably would have if Grunthor hadn't seen the man enter the room and warned me just in time."

Achmed's heart felt like it sank to his stomach at her words. He had never thought for a moment that the fear and danger that had been pursuing him these last few weeks would ever bring any harm to anyone other than himself, and especially not Rhapsody. He sat in silence as he began to berate himself for not thinking all of it through. Just because as an assassin he had never mistook a mark, didn't mean that another, less skilled one wouldn't either. And even if he had been in the room and was there to take the assassin's aim, it didn't mean that he wouldn't turn the bow on Rhapsody as well to keep her silent. A rush of scenarios began to play out through his mind of things that might have or could have happened to her because of him.

Seeing the self scolding that Achmed was putting himself through, Rhapsody quickly turned her tone from an angry accusing tone to concern and sympathy. She knew that Achmed had meant to save her from worry by keeping his danger from her, but now he was kicking himself for that decision. "Achmed, don't blame yourself. You did what you thought would be best, but you made a mistake and now we need to figure out what this means for us. We don't know if I was an attended target or not. This may be an all out attack on the alliance, and with this coming so close to the Moot, there's no telling what plots are afoot."

Still angry with himself but pushing that anger aside to get down to business, Achmed sat back before responding, "Well, where do we start? We have no way of knowing what is really going on here unless Meridion here has any insight."

Mother and son exchanged an unsettled glance before Meridion turned back to the King to answer. "No, I have not been able to foresee anything of this matter. In fact, it is for this reason that I have come ahead of the other Cymrians to speak with you. Something of great importance is going to happen at this Moot that may have many different outcomes and could change the course of the alliance. But I cannot tell what it is. I cannot see the Moot or beyond it because of the many outcomes that may come of it. The future at that point is too unclear to read."

"So what do you want me to do about it?"

"All I can ask of you is to stay vigilant. Something big is going to transpire and there is going to have to be clues to what it is before it happens."

"And are you saying that I am not vigilant as it is?"

"Of course he's not," Rhapsody quickly jumped in. "It's just we feel that it would be better to have all of our eyes as informed as possible to what the situation is."

"What the situation is? It seems to me that the problem here is that no one knows what the situation is. All we have to go on is three failed assassination attempts on my life with no evidence left as to where these attacks came from or who hired them and some vague notion that something big is going to happen. This certainly is not much to go on."

"Nevertheless, this is what we have and it is what we must use. We will know nothing further if we just choose to sit back and ignore the evidence that we have until something that makes more sense presents its self," Rhapsody answered.

Achmed had no choice but to relent to her argument. It was true that they could only work with what they had. There was no point in arguing about what they did not have and would not have if they continued to argue about it.

So, with a little reluctance, Achmed nodded his acknowledgement to keep an extra vigilant eye out on the Moot proceedings. Satisfied with his response, Rhapsody nodded in return before standing.

"Now that we are all caught up and agreed, how about some breakfast?"

"Well it is slightly closer to lunch now than breakfast, but I am hungry either way," Meridion responded.

"And how about you, dear?" She asked Achmed, expecting him to squirm at her use of dear.

"That would be lovely, _darling_," He answered her in mix of sarcasm and teasing. He knew she mostly was trying to tease him and he would respond in like fashion. Achmed had decided that it was time that he stopped feeling uncomfortable with the idea of them together and allow it to happen.

A little surprised at his response, Rhapsody smiled and bestowed a quick kiss to the King's cheek before exiting the room, presumably to make or find the pre-mentioned breakfast.

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Later that night, Rhapsody found Achmed alone on their ledge overlooking his kingdom. She could sense that he had not quite finished his thoughts from his morning walk and was trying to do so now. She watched him for some time before concluding that he might still wish to be left alone.

As she turned to leave he almost whispered, "You don't have to leave. You're not disturbing me."

Turning back towards him, she asked, "Are you sure?"

Giving a slight sigh before answering he said, "Rhapsody, have you ever known me to say something without being sure of it?"

She knew that he was right. If he had truly wished for her to not be there, he would have said so. Taking his invitation then, she walked up beside him, taking his arm and linking it with her own. Leaning then on him, they stood together in silence and watched as the last rays of the sun caressed the mountain peaks before relenting the sky to the stars.

It was then that Rhapsody started her requiem for the sun. This was one that Achmed had not heard her sing in a very long time. Not since the night that she had discovered that her family and life that she had left on Serendair had been burned and covered by the crashing sea thousands of years prior. It was a haunting melody that emphasized the loss of the sun's warmth and life and feeling of being left alone without it. This song was one that was rarely sung by the Liringlas as they were the people of the sky. They loved and worshiped all aspects of it, the day as much as the night. This particular song was one that was sung either when one died at the end of a day or when the singer feared they would not wake in the morning.

It felt so odd that she should choose to sing this aubade at that time. But when she switched her song to a greeting of the stars, he began to understand. She sang of the happiness of being united once again with the lovely stars and welcoming them into her life for the night. She sang of their distant warmth and love that she had for them. But the song ended on a strange note that unsettled the King. He knew that the song did not traditionally end in the way that she had ended it and this bothered him. She closed with singing of an uncertain fear that the night would be all too fleeting and her time with the stars would be ended.

They stood then in silence for a long time. Achmed knew that she was trying to talk to him through her songs. He knew that she was trying to tell him what it was that she was feeling, but he was confused how he was to respond to her. Somehow he knew that her requiem had been a song dedicated to her former husband Ashe and what she had felt when he left her. But then a new and different light had been affirmed once again in her life. But it was the last note that hung wavering in the air that had Achmed so confused.

What worried him the most was that he felt the same uncertainty that she no doubt was feeling. That undefined sense that as things were heading to a premature end. But despite the fear that he felt, he knew that there was an answer out there that could save their union; only, what it was, he still did not know. And tonight did not seem like the night for answers. They had communicated all that they could; now they just needed to take comfort in one another. And so they left the ledge together and retired to Achmed's chambers together once again.


	9. chapter 9

Chapter 9

Rhapsody awoke the next morning to once again find herself alone in the bed. This was something that she was completely unfamiliar with. When she and Ashe had been together, she was always the first to rise and would find great pleasure in preparing him breakfast for when he finally awoke. But now with Achmed, it seemed that he was more often than not the one to awake first and she didn't know quite what to make of it.

She continued lying in bed for a moment musing on these thoughts as she worked on completely rousing from her slumber. As she began to take in the room, she realized that Achmed was not present as he had been the day before when she had awaked. She was completely alone and this concerned her slightly. She began to think about where he might have gone to this early in the morning and the only place that she could think of was not very far. He must have gone to the Lortorium. This thought seemed to settle directly on her mind as if there was no other option for where he had gone to. In reality, he could be anywhere. After all, this was his kingdom, he could come and go where ever and when ever he pleased and no one was going to challenge him.

But Rhapsody knew that that was where he was and so she rose and dressed, planning on finding him after her morning aubades and hopefully be able to put words to the discussion that they had started the night before.

Quickly she was dressed and stole quietly down the corridors to the ledge that she and Achmed had stood on what seemed like a short time ago. After she had finished her song to greet the sun, she quickly returned to the king's chambers and set at undoing the complicated locks and traps that barred the entrance to the sleeping child's chamber.

Silently she descended down the passageway to the child's resting place. She could hear a faint humming that she was unfamiliar with that seemed to scratch at the back of her mind. It was reminiscent in vibration quality to the thrall ritual that she had heard Achmed use many times, but there was more tonality to it than there should be. It was like the song that she had now heard him sing to her twice but it was still very different in sound.

As she drew closer to the final turn in the tunnel before the entrance to the chamber, the sound suddenly ceased. This caused her to feel a sense of loss. Somehow she had felt a definite connection with that strange melody and it's absence made her feel more alone; it was as if a piece of her was missing that she had never realized was there in the first place.

It was then that she entered the chamber and was able to see by the light of the fire well that Achmed stood over the sleeping child, watching her as she slept on.

"What was that sound that I heard?" she asked him

Pausing for an uncomfortable moment, Achmed shifted his weight before answering with his back still turn to her, "the child seemed uneasy. Your songs always seem to help her and I thought that I might give it a try."

Slightly shocked that he would so frankly admit to singing, Rhapsody hung back for a moment to try and gage what might be going on. Finally, after coming up with nothing, she shrugged this new change off and continued on her approach to him.

Wrapping an arm around his back, she came to stand beside him, looking down at the peaceful child. "It seems that it worked, she is quite peaceful now."

Simply shrugging, Achmed pulled from the half embrace and walked a few paces away before turning back. He looked at her and she knew that he wanted to say something, but again words were failing him. As she looked into his eyes, she could see the same feeling that she had been having since they had agreed to be lovers. A part in the gloriousness of it all that seemed to be missing and demanded to be addressed. But neither of them truly knew what it was that was missing. Everything felt as if it were finally perfect and in place, except for this one nameless piece.

After a few moments of awkward silence and struggling, Achmed shook his head and turned to go. He knew that he needed to talk, that this evading of a problem was only going to make matters worse down the road. But he had no idea how to address this ethereal problem that hung between them.

"Wait," Rhapsody called. "I feel it too, but I don't know what it is either," she finished in a soft whisper.

But Achmed had heard her clearly and now he felt a little better that this was not just something that he was experiencing. She was with him on this and that alone made it easier to confront.

"I don't know what it is I have been feeling, but it is like there is a part missing that I didn't know needed to be there before," he said, turning back to face her.

"I know. I have the same feeling. It's as if there is a connection that has not been completed between us that should be. But I can think of nothing that should cause this feeling."

He nodded in response and continued to search for the right words. Coming up with nothing, he moved closer to her again and embraced her. He knew that physical connection was not what was bothering them, in fact the physical connection was tremendously strong now. But still, it helped to make things less uncomfortable just by holding her. It occurred to him that a position like this just a few months ago would have made him even more uncomfortable and uneasy. Strange how much things could change in such a short amount of time.

Rhapsody too could find no words but she knew that they could not leave until they figured this problem out to a more definitive concept. She held him in return for a moment before she pulled back enough to take his arm and guide him to a nearby stone bench.

"I know that neither of us really know what should be said, but we need to talk. Maybe if we just talk about the things in our relationship that can be describable, we can discover this indescribable issue."

Again silence settled upon them as Achmed struggled for words to say what he felt. It seemed like not long ago that he was in this same position in this same room, searching for words to say to her that would communicate the depth of his emotions without losing his pride. "I… I don't know where to begin," he said.

Rhapsody smiled. At least he was willing to talk. This was more than the old Achmed would ever have done. "How about what you thought about yesterday when you left," she suggested gently.

Achmed took another moment to collect his thoughts and recall exactly what it was that had bothered him the day before. "I still have these doubts that plague me, that say you should never have chosen to be with me. I cannot bring myself to believe that you would ever truly love me."

A great sadness welled inside her as she listened to him. She knew that sympathy would get her no where with him and so chose to give him no pity, just the love that she truly felt for him. "Achmed," she said gently as she used her hand to lift his bent face so that she could look him in the eye. "I love you," her voice rang with the truth that only a Namer could produce. "I have always loved you, and now that love has grown beyond measure in these few short months."

He looked into her eyes and heard the honesty that resounded there. It both soothed and hurt him. He knew that she did love him and his musing that she found him repugnant was unfounded and erroneous. But to face this honesty so purely and clearly, it meant that he was forced to strip off the self doubts and hatred that he had carried with him all of his life.

"I know that you are telling the truth, but this goes against everything that I have ever known to be true of myself. And I can't seem to feel that your love is guaranteed. Something seems to be warning me that we have forgotten something, missed some part that is needed to solidify our relationship."**  
**

"I feel the same," Rhapsody replied as she nodded slowly. "I too feel that there is something missing that should be there."

They sat in silence once again. Rhapsody knew that Achmed had something else to say, but something was holding him back.

"What? What is it?" she asked

"I think I might know what it is that we have missed," he began slowly, hesitantly.

"Yes?"

"We have had a friendship that we know will never break; and our love we now realize has been there almost as long as that friendship and is equally unbreakable. But what is the one thing that you value above all else that we have not yet committed to?"

She thought for a long moment. One thing came to her, but he couldn't possibly be considering it, could he? "Marriage?" she asked, almost frightened to say the word.

He nodded in reply. "Marriage… We have nothing binding us to one another. We are free to come and go as we please and this unsteady position that we have settled into is one that keeps our relationship unsteady."

"Wait, I can't believe I'm hearing this from you. Are you saying that you think that we should get married?"

"No, I am saying that I believe that is our problem. We have already discussed how a marriage between us would never work. Your people would begin to doubt you and not have near as much trust in you if you were to have a marriage to a monster like me… And don't say that I'm not because even you can't argue that the majority of your people see me as a monster," he said as she began to interrupt him.

Rhapsody paused and then nodded again, knowing that what he said was true. Both the Cymrians and the Lirin would doubt her intelligence and motives if she were to enter into a union with Achmed. Even just being his lover was already upsetting the Cymrian counsel. What would marriage do to that?

"So, what do we do then?" she asked.

"Right now, nothing. I see nothing that we can do but to try and continue on best we can as we are. It is possible with time and effort we will be able to exist together without this union."

"And if we find we cannot?" she asked, slightly afraid of what the answer would be.

Achmed shrugged before answering, "we will have to decide when that time comes, if ever."

Rhapsody nodded and sat for a moment, looking at her hands as she pondered what their future was leading to. Achmed too sat for a while in silence before he could stand it no longer. He leaned over and put his arm around her, pulling her against his shoulder while they continued their awkward silence for a while longer. Then he bent down and lightly kissed her forehead before rising and stealthily exiting the chamber, leaving Rhapsody alone on the cold stone bench, trying to figure out what her heart was telling her to do.


	10. chapter 10

Chapter 10

The next few days were like a blur. Everyone was busy with preparations for the massive congregation that would be showing up at the moot. Achmed became more and more edgy and nervous about security. He feared that another assassin would be sent during the chaos of the meeting and that someone other than him may be hurt.

The King could be found most nights pacing the floors of the throne room, racking his brains for any way to add more security. The problem was, with so many people who would need to come and go, it was almost impossible to have everything completely secure.

And so the days flew by until the morning dawned that showed the first comers to the meeting. A caravan was seen in the distance with banners of Bethany. Tristan Steward was on his way.

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"Are you sure that this is going to work?" Tristan asked Leah for what she felt was the thousandth time. The two rode together in a bumpy carriage. Tristan's wife was currently nine months pregnant and had decided to stay behind, allowing Tristan to take Leah in the guise of his personal attendant.

"Tristan, dear. I told you. Nothing can go wrong. And if by some freak chance it does, you'll never be blamed and the worse that will happen is things will remain as they are."

He sighed and sat back again. This was going to work, he told himself. But for some reason a voice at the back of his head kept repeating over and over that something was going to go wrong. But he didn't want to hear that, so he pushed the thought away and tried to relax by running the plan over in his head and rehearsing every step.

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"Sir, the Nain 'ave showed up," Grunthor announced.

Achmed nodded and went back to his studying his maps of the area. Grunthor nodded and walked over to Meridion who was lounging near the fire. "Merry, Oi've bin asked to invite you to Faedryth's tent tonight."

Slightly shocked, Meridion looked up and asked, "Why? He's never really been interested in the affairs of the alliance. I've never even met the man."

"Search me," the giant shrugged. "Oi was jus' passin' along a message."

Achmed looked up from his maps and questioned the face of his sergeant major. Not finding any more information out, he shrugged as well and went back to his pondering.

As Grunthor turned to leave, Meridion asked, "Do you know where my mother is? I need to speak with her."

"Oi believe she's out visitin' the Lirin that arrived yesterday."

"Thank you Grunthor. If you could get someone to pass along that I'll meet Faedryth tonight, I'd appreciate it."

"Sure thing, Lordy."

Meridion cracked a slight smile at that, "You know I'm not officially Lord yet."

"Oi know, just tryin' to get used to the new term."

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"Rial, please! I have enough to deal with as it is without you pestering me with issues that don't mean anything right now and that you are perfectly capable of handling yourself. I came down here to socialize, not to talk politics," Rhapsody said.

"Yes, your majesty. I know that you hate it when I do this, but I really want to know your opinion."

"Alright, I'll tell you what we can do. After the moot is over and you return to Tyrian I'll join you there and you can talk my ear off. I will most likely only agree with whatever you think, but if it will make you feel better, that's what I'll do. Okay?"

"Thank you Your Majesty."

With that, Rhapsody turned to mingle with some old acquaintances and did not see that as Rial turned from her with a slight smile pulling at his lips.

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That night, two shadowy figures met in the dark, removed from any onlookers.

"How has your part of the plan held up brother?"

"It has all gone according to plan. As long as you have taken care of your end and your girl pulls through with that sniveling puppet of yours, everything should all fall in to place."

"My part has been arranged, and Leah reports that all is going well with the Duke. By this time two days hence, we should control the Cymrian powers with a few weeks later having complete control of the Nain and the Lirin."

"Good," the shadow smiled. "It will be easy then to take the mountain and Sorbold should practically hand itself over to us by then. Good work brother."

"And to you, brother."

With that, the two figures dissolved into the night, returning to their separate camps.

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"Meridion, glad to see you back. How did your meeting with the Nain king go?" Rhapsody asked as her son entered the throne room where she had been quietly talking with Achmed.

"It was fine. A bit strange and uncomfortable at times, basically because I don't know their culture, but I think it went rather well."

"What was it that they wanted with you?" Achmed asked

"It seems that Faedryth wished to gage my character before voting for or against me at the moot in two days. Apparently, I passed his judgment and have found favor with him."

"Hmm, that is rather odd. The Nain have never shown much interest in the Cymrian proceedings before," Rhapsody observed.

"I don't really understand it myself, but hopefully this will only mean good things."

"Somehow I doubt it, but for you two hope seems to spring eternal," Achmed put in.

"And for you the well has long been dry," Rhapsody intoned. "Yes Achmed, we will proceed with caution in these matters. I know you and the Nain have not had the warmest or most trusting relationship in the past."

"Humph," the king snorted. "That's the understatement of this century."

Rhapsody and her son shared a knowing smile before Meridion wished his mother a good night and retired to his chambers for the night.

"Achmed?" She said.

"Yes?"

"I have been rather uneasy the last few nights about Meridion. He is about to have a tremendous pressure placed upon him soon. With all likelihood, he will be officially elected the next Lord Cymrian. This pressure of governing a people is going to place a weight on him to use his gift more and more."

"And what is the problem?"

"Well, Meridion has spoken to me in the past how he is unsure how to proceed in dealing with his power. He is afraid to use any of the information that he receives of the future to try and change it because he cannot tell what his changes will ultimately come out to."

Achmed sat for a moment in thought. "I am glad that the boy has that much sense. But ultimately it will be his decision on how to use his gift. Neither of us can interfere with it. This is for him, and him alone to work out."

Rhapsody nodded her head but she still wasn't convinced that that was it.

"Look Rhapsody," Achmed said. "I know that he is your son and you want to be there for him in everything and help him through tough spots. But you know that at some point, a parent must let go of their child and allow them to face their own problems. You have done a great job of this so far, but you must keep it up. You must let your son face his own demons and make his own choices. If you are there, pushing him to one decision or another, he will never completely understand how to deal with his gift. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I think so. But it is still hard."

Achmed smiled and pulled her into his arms. "Of course it is, but you are strong. You know that all I have said is true and is the right thing to do."

"Thank you Achmed. You always seem to know my thoughts and how to confront me with them."

Another rare smile, this time a much broader one, pulled at the kings lips before he bent down to kiss his love on the forehead. "That's my job, to keep you as honest with yourself as with the rest of the world."

With that, he gently pulled her along with him to their now shared chambers for the night.


	11. chapter 11

Chapter 11

The next morning, Achmed awoke with a start. Something was happening, he could feel it. Quickly he arose and dressed, waking Rhapsody in the process.

"What is it?" she asked sleepily.

"I don't know," he answered simply, throwing his heavy black cloak on and bringing his veils into place. "Something happened and I need to find out what it is."

Rhapsody too got up and was dressed quickly. As Achmed opened the door to leave, he nearly ran into Grunthor. "Sergeant, what is happening?"

"Oi was jus' on my way to git the two o you. It seems someone has killed Tristan Steward."

Rhapsody gasped, shocked that someone of such importance in the alliance would have been killed at such an important meeting. Achmed merely nodded. He certainly wasn't surprised that the vermin had finally managed to get himself killed, but something didn't feel right about the whole thing.

"Well, we better go down and investigate, maybe the killer left us some clues," the King said.

Rhapsody nodded and threw on her cloak. "This is turning out to be a very nasty moot. My husband dies and now Tristan is killed."

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When the two monarchs arrived at the tent of the Duke, they found things to be much more subdued than they would have expected. "Is everyone still asleep?" Rhapsody asked.

Achmed scowled and looked around. As much as he disliked Tristan, there should be more to-do over his death. As it was, there was no one about outside the tent at all.

"Oi heard o' his death from 'is personal guard. 'Parently, his personal o'sistant gave order as few as possible people are t' know about it." Grunthor said.

"Hmmf, who would have guessed that someone in Tristan's employ would have enough thought to preserve the scene?" Achmed intoned.

"What do you mean?" Rhapsody asked

"Less people milling about and trampling over the place makes things less difficult to read."

Just then, Leah stepped from tent, which was really more like a cloth house than anything. "Thank you for coming so quickly," she said. "I'm Leah; I was Tristan's personal assistant. Please, come this way." She gestured for the three to enter.

"Oi think Oi'll go back ta my rounds. Oi was on my way to check in with the troops and see if they had anything ta report." Grunthor announced.

"Yes, maybe one of the guards saw something like last night," Rhapsody answered.

"Unlikely," said Achmed. "If any had saw anything suspious last night they would have reported it immediately." With that, he turned and entered the tent. Rhapsody followed behind.

She nearly ran into Achmed's back as he had stopped just inside. There was blood everywhere. Tristan's body lay slumped in his chair behind a desk. It looked as though his throat had been slit from behind as he sat.

"Tristan was up late last night, well after I had gone to bed. I woke up this morning to find him like this. I tried not to disturb anything, but I'm afraid that I have stepped in and touched some of the blood," Leah explained as she entered the room behind Rhapsody.

Achmed surveyed the room. Carefully, he made his way to the limp Tristan to examine the slash across his throat. It certainly looked real with all the blood that was seeping around it, but something didn't feel right about it to him.

Rhapsody came up around the other side of him, double checking for a pulse, knowing that with that much blood loss, he was most certainly dead. With a nod, she confirmed this thought to Achmed, who already knew that no blood flowed through Tristan's veins.

But the problem was, even though blood was not flowing, he could still sense blood under the skin. With this much bleed out, he should not be sensing that much blood still in the body. Looking closer at the slash, he wondered if the wound was really as deep as it appeared.

Finally, he decided that he was just being paranoid; there certainly was enough blood evidence all over the room to support this man's murder and death. Of course there was no love lost on behalf of either monarch, but it was still an issue that needed to be resolved.

"I don't know Achmed, this looks like it was probably another assassination. I think that we may have a serious problem."

"It would appear so. But this is the first successful attempt."

"Excuse me," Leah quietly intoned. "But what other assassinations are you talking about?"

Rhapsody and Achmed exchanged a glance and nod before Rhapsody answered, "Both King Achmed and myself have had assassination attempts on our lives in the last few months. It seems that someone wants to remove persons of power in our alliance."

"Oh my. Yes it certainly seems that way. What are we going to do about it?"

Achmed took another close look at the body, trying to discern why it just didn't feel right to him. Finally he straightened and answered simply, "nothing."

Rhapsody looked at him questioningly as did Leah.

"We will wait and see what happens. I will continue to try and discover who the assassin is but it is unlikely that I will be able to do so. It seems whoever this was, was very good at covering their tracks."

"In the mean time, I think it would be best if we keep this quiet for another day if possible. I am not to bring the moot together until tomorrow; at that time, I will announce the death of the Duke and give his elegy. This will clear up any rumors that may start and hopefully I will be able to assure all the people at the same time."

"Good," the King replied. "Now, you have done a good job so far keeping this quiet; see to it that it stays that way." He said to Leah. "I will send a couple of men to clean this up and arrange for the body to be taken care of."

"If you please, I would like to do the preparations myself. He will have a journey back to Bethany where his subjects could pay their respects as well as his wife. I would just ask that your men help move him to his bed for the time being."

Achmed raised an eyebrow at this, but nodded his consent. Then he turned and left the tent, followed closely by Rhapsody.

"Did any of that seem strange to you?' he asked her as soon as they were out of earshot.

"Well other than a high figure on the counsel being murdered, no it seemed rather cut and dry to me."

"Something isn't right here. I could feel blood still in his body and the blood that was outside of it felt deader than he was. As if the blood had been bled out long before he had died."

"Hmm, that is rather odd. Are you sure about that?" She asked.

"No, that is the problem. That is the feeling that I had but I have never experienced this before so I can't say for sure."

"What do you think we should do?"

"As I said, nothing. You go back to Cauldron and send those men that I promised. I'm going to spend the rest of the day observing."

"Observing what?"

"Anything, everything, but probably nothing."

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And so he did. At first he went back into the tent and looked around some more but found nothing of much interest. He noted that there were a few foot prints in the blood, but they belonged to the assistant and were accounted for. Everything seemed to add up and point to an assassination. The culprit snuck up behind the man and slit his throat before Tristan even knew what had happened.

Finally, not finding anything, Achmed left and found a place to simply observe the tent. He could not shake the feeling that something was very wrong about the whole deal. So he sat in the silence in the shadow of an overhang and watched the comings and goings to the tent. Of course, other than his own men, there were none. This also unnerved the King. The assistant never left the tent and no one came in.

This seemed rather odd. Who would voluntarily keep themselves in a stuffy tent with a dead man? And not even his personal guard would enter. Achmed knew that she was more than a personal assistant and that she more than likely had many other men that she also "assisted" in the guard. But she never called another in to keep her company and never left.

Time passed slowly as he camped outside, waiting for something to happen that seemed like it never would.


	12. chapter 12

Chapter 12

The entire day went by, and Achmed never returned. Rhapsody was starting to get worried, but Grunthor assured her that he would probably not return that night. "'Is 'ighness is probably scoutin' out the tent to make sure the culprit don' return."

"I know, but I am a bit worried about him."

"Don't worry Mother, Achmed is certainly able to take care of himself. Now you should get to bed, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow," Meridion chimed.

"Yes, of course. Good night Grunthor," she said as she rose and put her arms around him as far as they would go.

"Good night Duchess."

"Good night my son." And with that, she turned and left to settle for the night.

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Meanwhile, Achmed was also preparing to settle for the night. He was almost completely convinced that nothing was going to happen at that tent that would shed anymore light on the matter. But he was going to give it that night before giving up.

So he shifted a bit and settled into a slightly more comfortable position within his hiding place. And continued to wait.

He saw a light lit inside the tent and was able to observe the lady moving about inside. He watched her for a long time, wondering if she was ever planning on going to bed. But then he remembered that he had observed that she more than likely had some amount of Lirin blood in her and so would require little sleep.

Must be nice, he thought to himself as he felt his eyes becoming heavy with weariness. He had gotten so little rest in the last few months and now staying up all through the night was strain on his body that was nearing pushing him over an edge.

And so, it was only an hour or two off of dawn that he was about ready to give up and return for those two hours of sleep.

Just then, something happened inside the tent. The girl had been sitting at a chair, not far from the deathbed of the duke. She had been completely alone throughout the night with no one coming or going in or out of the tent. But now, there was somebody else in the tent. It seemed as if a man had sat up right from the bed itself. But that could not be possible. Unless…

Suddenly, Achmed knew why Tristan's death had felt so wrong. He had not really died.

That was the form of Tristan moving about inside that tent. He had faked his own death, but for what reason. If he had been trying to escape and start some new life, the girl would have had his body taken away immediately. All that this seemed to do would be to trick the moot into thinking he was dead when he wasn't, and what good would that do for him? He was always after more power and if it was thought that he was dead, then how could he gain anymore power?

Then Achmed remembered what happened the last time a man faked his death. Rhapsody had been the herald of the death of the former invoker, Llauron. When she discovered that his death had been a fake, she had been crushed and convinced that her lie had discredited her. And that was what Tristan was after.

An election for Lord Cymrian was to be held tomorrow. If Tristan showed up tomorrow before the election but after the announcement of his death, Rhapsody would loose credit with the Cymrians, and as a result, so would her son. This would put Tristan in a better position for the election.

Achmed was fuming at this. He had hated it tremendously when Llauron and his son had schemed against her and hurt her so deeply with their lies. Now Tristan was pulling the same thing on her but on an even larger scale. Llauron had, in a sense, died. He had just had to kill off his human body in order to change into the elemental dragon that he wished to become. Tristan is not in any way shape or form dead. Also, Rhapsody had told one person of the death who then told the rest of the world. This time, the whole world would be hearing it directly from her, she who had pledged to speak only the truth.

As these thoughts coursed through his mind, Achmed hardly even realized that he had removed himself from his hiding place and was making his way down to the tent. He had left his cwellian and sword back in his chambers with the rush of the morning, but he had drawn his dagger and was ready to gut that man alive for what he was trying to do.

But, before he reached the tent he realized that he needed to take Tristan alive in case that this was part of a larger plan. The man may be working for someone else and, given the right motivation, he may be able to lead Achmed to them.

It was then that the King stormed the room where the duke had previously been found "dead." He found Tristan alive and well, in a fresh set of cloths walking from his bedroom in the back to his desk. The man was completely taken unawares as the King stormed up to him and placed the dagger against his throat.

"Do you know how tempted I am to make your staged death a reality?" Achmed growled in a deadly voice to the man.

Tristan trembled as Achmed moved to stand behind him, the dagger still firmly pressed up against the throat.

Leaning to whisper in his ear Achmed continued, "You don't deserve to live. You're already thought to be dead; no one would miss you if I ended it here."

Somehow, through all his shaking and quivering, Tristan found a voice and screamed, "Guards!"

Before Achmed could do anything else, the room was filled with five burly body guards who quickly formed a half circle around the two men. Two aimed crossbows at the king while the other three had drawn swords.

"You kill me, my men will kill you," Tristan sneered.

"It just might be worth it," he whispered for the duke's ear alone before saying to the others, "Come any closer and I'll slit his throat."

The men looked to their leader, trying to decide what to do. A silent stand off lasted for a few moments. But then, suddenly, a loud shattering crash sounded as a splitting pain lashed through Achmed's head. Leah had crept up behind him with a large vase and had struck him over the head.

Achmed stumbled for a second as he fought off unconsciousness that tried to take him over. In his brief moment of weakness, Tristan grabbed the King's arm and pushed it far enough away from his throat to get away before slamming the blade into Achmed's own shoulder.

It was the biting pain of the dagger that brought Achmed back to his senses enough to realize that Tristan was now safe behind his screen of men. Quickly, he yanked the blade from his arm and threw it at the nearest crossbow man. The blade buried itself deep into the man's chest and he crumpled to the floor, causing the bow to fire as he hit. The bolt sprang from the bow and in return, burrowed into Achmed's leg. Cursing, he fell to the floor as the other man fired his bow. The bolt slashed through the air, passing through where Achmed had just been and finding the new target of Leah's chest.

In the confusion of this, Achmed had rolled to where the first bowman had fallen and drew the man's sheathed sword. He turned as another man bore down on him with his own sword. The King trust his new prize deep in the unprotected gut of the attacker before yanking the blade out and rising to slash the eyes of the next man.

Spinning around as agony flashed through his leg, arm and head, he found the bowman aiming another bolt. Again he dropped to his knees and rolled but the other guard was where he wanted to be. He slashed as the man's unprotected legs, but the agile and unwounded guard side stepped the wild thrust easily. But now Achmed once again found himself near the body of the first guard that he brought down with his dagger. Reaching out and yanking the blade from the man's chest, quickly he shifted the sticky blade in his hand and let fly at the other bowman. The blade brought down its second man as Achmed stood and faced the last remaining people in the room.

Now, only one guard and Tristan remained. The duke stared wild eyed from behind his desk as the final guard faced the injured king. Achmed was tired and unable to move his left arm at all. His right leg shot pains through him with every movement and his head was still clouded and full of pain. Not to mention the blood that ran down both his arm and leg.

If it weren't for these things, Achmed could have easily finished this last man off with little effort, but as it was, it was a bit of a fight to get him down. In the process, the King took a rake of the blade across his chest before finally decapitating the guard and ending the fight.

Tristan was still behind his desk, looking for a way out but found none. The wounded and wearied king turned to the man and glared at him with fire and rage. "If you don't want to end up like your men, I suggest sitting in that chair and allowing me to tie you to it," he growled.

Obediently, Tristan did just that. For being in such pain, Achmed made quick work of his restraining. "Now, you wait here for someone to come and get you. I will be seeing you again soon." With that the king turned and hurried as best he could out of the tent.

As he stepped outside, he saw that the first rays of sunlight were just poking themselves over the horizon. Then he heard a sound that chilled his heart where it would usually lift his spirits. It was the sound of Rhapsody beginning her aubade. Soon more voices added to hers, singing a greeting to the rising sun. Achmed knew that as soon as she finished this song, Rhapsody would tell Tristan's death and even if Tristan was now there to confess to the trickery, Rhapsody will still have told a lie. She would never forgive herself and it could destroy her.

Quickly, Achmed bent over and painfully pulling the arrow that was still in his leg out before turning and going as fast as he could to the moot. It was some distance off and he feared that he would never reach the place in time.

Just then, a rider could be seen in the distance, bearing down on his position. As he neared, Achmed could see that the rider was none other than Gwydion Navarne. Hailing him, Achmed shouted to hurry over.

When the duke reached the king's side, he rapidly dismounted, talking as his did so, "My god, Achmed! What happened to you?"

"Never mind," he snapped. "I have to get to the moot now. Give me your horse and you go to the tent and get Tristan to the moot as well. He has crimes to answer for." And without any more explanation, Achmed painfully mounted the horse and was gone before Gwydion even knew what had happened.

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Even atop a speeding horse, Achmed doubted that he would reach Rhapsody in time. He could hear the song nearing the end when he reached the base of the ledge that lead up to her position of the speaker's place. The horse, he knew could not make it up the steep climb and he was had to climb up it himself.

Nearly falling off of the horse, the King forced himself up the grade, pushing himself to his limits. The song ended and he was only half way up. He could hear her bringing the moot to a start. He was three quarters of the way up when he heard her introing her bad news. With a last burst of energy he rushed up the last few steps nearly collapse on the ledge itself.

"Rhapsody, stop!" he screamed at her with what strength he had left.

She stopped in mid-sentence, just about to announce the death of Tristan. "My gods! Achmed!" she exclaimed as she rushed to where he knelt at the top of the stairs. He was swaying and was about to topple over as she reached his side. "Achmed, what happened?"

"Tristan… alive," he gasped. "Trick… Gwydion will... bring him," was all that he could manage. Grunthor was pushing his way to Achmed's side, murder in his eyes over the condition that he saw him to be in.

It took a moment for Rhapsody to comprehend what Achmed had just told her. Then suddenly she understood what she had just about done again. "Gods, thank you Achmed." She said. Then, turning to the rapidly approaching Grunthor she said, "Take him to the Cauldron, I'll be right behind you."

As soon as she left the king in Grunthor's capable hands, Rhapsody turned back to the unsettled crowd. Just then, Meridion was at her side. He had quickly run up to her as soon as he had seen Achmed.

"Mother, what…" he began before she cut him off with a wave.

Anger flowed out of her eyes as she moved up to address the crowd once again. "It seems that there is a serpent among us," she started. "King Achmed has risked his life to uncover a conspiracy to deceive and bring down this counsel.

'Apparently, Tristan Steward has attempted to fake his own death for whatever reason. Gwydion Navarne is bringing the fraud as we speak. When he arrives, I will turn over this counsel to my son, Meridion, to publicly interrogate Tristan to discover what it was that he was trying to do and to decide his form of punishment. I must go and attend to the Firbolg king."

And with that, she stepped back and allowed Meridion who had come to her side while she talked, to take over. Quickly and without anymore preface, she turned and followed her two oldest friends back to the Cauldron.


	13. chapter 13

Chapter 13

Meridion had waited for Rhapsody to leave before he took control of the moot. As soon as he was convinced that she was no longer listening, he stepped forward and addressed the crowd. "My fellow Cymrians, I know that these new tidings are grave and deserve the utmost attention, but while we are waiting for Gwydion to bring the prisoner before us, I wish to bring up another subject. Many of you are aware that your former Lord and my father as well as Lady Rhapsody's husband died a few months ago at his own choosing. Since then, Rhapsody has found love and comfort in the arms of another. He has cared for her and loved her for as long as he has known her, which is a very, very long time. These two should be together and they are finally able to be, except for in one area. You see this man that Rhapsody is now with is King Achmed." Here, Meridion paused as a rustle of gasps and wonder passed through the crowd.

"Now, I know that all of you are surprised by this pairing, but I can assure you that he loves and cares for her and will protect her with his very life. Evidence of this love has been shown to us this very day. You all saw the wounds that the King had obtained by uncovering the plot that was out against Rhapsody and the Cymrians. We all know that he cares little about the Cymrians and so it was the love for the Lady that he put his life in danger.

'He has proved to us that he would be a great protector for our lady and will love and honor her till the end of time. But these two fear that you, the people, will never accept a union of marriage between them because of your distrust of the Bolg. It is because of this I come to you now, to put before you a vote of this matter.

'I remind you that there is no law that says that the Lord and Lady Cymrian have to be married, so if you choose today to bless their union, you are in no way saying that Achmed will be your new Lord. This is something that no one, including Achmed, wishes to happen."

He paused once again as a slight laughter brushed through the crowd. Then a murmur of discussion took over then. Meridion stood and watched as each member of the moot discussed with each other this proposed consent of marriage. He smiled down as he realized that most of the discussion was leaning in the two lover's favor. He prayed that neither Rhapsody nor Achmed would kill him for this, but it needed to be done. He had been seeing their pain in this final area weighing on both of them and knew that this was something that had to be brought before the people before either would ever consider taking care of this problem.

"What say you? Can you accept a marriage between my mother and the Firbolg king?"

From somewhere in the crowd, one large voice echoed in the moot, "I believe I speak for everyone here when I say that we will accept anything that our Lady sees fit and will make her happy."

Meridion at once knew the voice to belong to his great uncle Anborn. At this response, a great wave of cheering erupted from the masses in mutual consent to the speaker's words. Meridion could feel that the entire mass of Cymrians gathered there all agreed to the proposal. Now all he had to do was to convince Achmed to actually purpose to his mother. That was not a conversation that he was looking forward to having.

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Rhapsody arrived at the hospice shortly after Grunthor had gotten Achmed there. By now, Achmed had lost a lot of blood and this coupled with his concussion was causing him to black out periodically. When Rhapsody arrived, Achmed was unconscious and Krinsel was working on him.

"How is he?" she asked worriedly as she knelt by his side, immediately beginning to hum a tune under her breath.

"Not good. He has a concussion and the wound in his shoulder will not stop bleeding," Krinsel answered as she continued to work at the wound.

"Why?" Rhapsody asked.

"I don't know. I have never seen anything like this before."

Rhapsody placed a hand over Achmed's forehead as she chanted his name song for a few moments, attempting to bring him back to consciousness. After a short time of this, Achmed's eyelids flickered as his brow furrowed in pain once again.

"Achmed, I'm here," she started. "Do you know why we cannot stop the bleeding in your shoulder?"

It took a moment for him to bring her into focus and to understand her question. When he understood what it was she had asked he tried to nod his head but found the pain too great. Then he tried to speak, but could barely manage above a whisper. Rhapsody leaned over, putting her ear almost on his mouth as she asked him to repeat what he had just said. She was just able to make out two words. "My blade," was all that he said.

Rhapsody looked up at Grunthor, confusion on her face. "He said, 'my blade.' Do you know what that means?"

"Hrekin!" the giant swore.

Rhapsody looked at him, not understanding what was going on. "What, what does that mean?" She was beginning to become frantic. Obviously it was not a good thing but she could see no reason why these two words should mean so much.

"Oi knew that this 'ould come back ta 'uant us," Grunthor said. "A year ago, 'is majesty came across a new chemical that when in contact 'ith blood, keeps it from clottin'. Since then we 'ave both treated one o' our weapons 'ith this stuff. If ee got stabbed by 'is own blade, then that wound will not close."

Rhapsody looked blankly at her giant friend for a moment before the full impact of his words set in. Her first reaction was one of anger. "Why on earth would you two do something like that? What possible advantage could there be by carrying a weapon like that?"

"Oi thought it a neat thing ta 'ave if ya wanted ta make sure the person you stabbed died."

"But not if the person that gets stabbed is you! This has got to be the stupidest thing that you have ever done. Now what are we going to do? Is there any antidote?"

"None that Oi know o'."

"Damn you!" It was then that she looked down and saw that Achmed was once again loosing his battle to stay conscious. "Don't you dare!" she snapped at him. "Don't you dare fade out on me now. You are probably the only one that is going to be able to heal you," she told him.

Hauling himself back to awareness, Achmed gave her a look of uncertainty. He was somewhat aware of what it was she was referring to but that was a skill that he never put much trust in. Never mind that he had never tried it on himself and that he was losing consciousness rapidly.

Grunthor, wondering what it was that Rhapsody meant, asked, "'Ow do you fig'er?"

"He has blood lore. He can use it to force his blood to clot and close the wound. He is the only one here with that ability so it is going to have to be up to him." Then, turning back the Achmed she said, "I know that you don't know if you can do this and you probably still don't trust that part of your lore, but you are going to have to try. I am not going to sit here and watch you die on me now after all these years. I will work on healing your concussion so that you may be able to think more clearly, but the rest is up to you. And if you fail, I promise you, I will hunt you down in the afterlife and make yours into a hell."

Achmed tried to crack a slight smile at this, but found it to be too much effort. Instead he closed his eyes and forced himself to concentrate on his task a hand. He could feel his head clearing bit by bit as he worked. He knew that Rhapsody meant what she said and she would probably nearly sing herself right into a coma trying to save him if he didn't pull off his part of the job. This was something that had to be done and so he knew that he would do it.

As he struggled and strove with himself to bring his wound to a close, he began to hear a distant song. It was not the one that Rhapsody was singing to keep him alive and aware while he worked. In fact, it was not even a song that Rhapsody had ever sung. It was a song that had been growing in his mind over the last week. A slow and rhythmic melody that was full of past fears and promise of a new future. One that he knew had always been present in his mind but had never allowed to grow until recent events. Now he listened to this song and drew strength and confidence from it. As much as he hated the idea, he knew that this was a song that he had to share with Rhapsody and he would have to pull through this ordeal in order to do so.

Then, after what had felt like hours of agonizing labor, Achmed became confident that he had finally sealed his wound. He could no longer sense his life force leaking from his body and the agony in his head had subsided to a dull ache thanks to the ministrations of Rhapsody.

He opened his eyes and looked up at her, he could see tear streaks down her paled face. Her voice was still singing his name, calling him back from the edge. Her voice was becoming horse and gravely with use. She was pushing herself too far for his sake and he had to let her know that everything was alright now and she could rest. Slowly and carefully, he reached up with his good arm and caressed her cheek with the back of her hand.

Rhapsody that become so engrossed and consumed with her singing that she had not noticed his movement until his hand connected with her. She jumped slightly and immediately stopped singing. Looking down at him, she smiled and took the hand that he had raised into her own. Kissing his hand, she gently stroked his forehead and whispered, "I knew you'd come back to me."

Still too weak to respond, Achmed nodded once before leaning into his cot and closing his eyes, signaling to her that he needed to rest and hoping that she would take the cue and find some rest of her own. She did. She kissed his hand one more time before placing his hand on his chest and standing to leave.

She was grateful that Grunthor had remained through out their struggles as he was there to catch her when she nearly fell over with exhaustion. She allowed her giant friend to scoop her up into his arms and carry her off to her room where she immediately fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.


	14. chapter 14

Chapter 14

It was not until late that night that Rhapsody finally awoke from her sleep. At first she was disoriented and confused why she was in her room. Then she remembered all that had happened. Achmed had saved her from lying to all of the Cymrians and so saved her from a break down. The last time she had unintentionally lied it had nearly destroyed her and this would have been on a much larger scale.

She now owed Achmed her sanity and had tried to repay him by healing him. But ultimately, he was forced to save himself. His wounds had been beyond her help and he had to use his own blood lore.

Now she laid alone in the dark, wondering how he was doing and what time it had gotten to be. No doubt she had missed most, if not all, of today's moot, and she was the one who was supposed to have been leading it.

But then awareness came to her that she may not be as alone as she had thought she was. A slight tingle in the air that she recognized crept into her perception. This sensation had been present in her mind since she had awaked, but she was unsure when precisely she had begun to notice it.

She knew that there was no need to worry about this presence because it was Achmed who was in the room with her. She slowly reached over and felt quietly for the bedside lamp. Gently she touched the wick and summoned a spark from her soul to light it. The warm glow chased the shadows of the room away to reveal Achmed sitting in a chair near her bedside, watching her.

He was very pale and, though his shoulder wound was now closed, it appeared wickedly sharp upon his skin. Rhapsody could see that it was still in need of treating even if Achmed had managed to stop the bleeding. If not, it was a risk of infection. That maybe an after effect of the chemical, she thought to herself. There really was no way of knowing what it could do to a wound that had actually been sealed before the death of the individual.

"You're looking much better than the last time I saw you," she said as she sat up in her bed.

"And so are you," he replied.

"I'm sure that I didn't look as bad as you when you dragged yourself up to the moot," she paused, wanting and needing to say more but afraid that he would dismiss her as he would often do when she tried to thank him. "Achmed, I really am very grateful for what you did. I don't know all of what transpired between you and Tristan, but obviously you knew that you had to warn me before I did something I would regret. I appreciate that you understand what a huge deal it is for me to be forced like that to lie to my people and I don't know how to thank you for the position you put yourself in to save me."

Achmed simply sat in his chair and looked at her for a while, not sure how to respond. It was true that he knew he had to save her from that misery and that was what got him to her in time. But how was he to accept her gratitude? He sensed that he must in some way accept it this time instead of dismissing it as he usually would do. But what to say?

"I know you don't know what to say, and you don't have to say anything," Rhapsody started. "It is enough for me that you don't just dismiss me outright."

Achmed nodded sat back in his chair, and watched her for a moment. Rhapsody, feeling that she had communicated her point to him clearly, now felt she had to do something about his ugly wound. She carefully rose from her bed and crossed the room to a cabinet. Reaching in, she withdrew a small bottle of ointment as well as a few strips of linen. As she crossed back over to where Achmed sat, she opened to bottle, filling the room with a sharp pungent smell.

"Witch hazel?" Achmed inquired.

"Yes. I don't like the look of that wound; it may be infected from the chemical. It was never meant to be sealed and this could be an after effect of what happens when it is."

Achmed looked down at his arm and realized that she was right. It didn't look good and should be treated. Knowing that he really had no choice, he watched as she poured out a few drops of the ointment on a strip of linen and pressed it up against his wound.

It stung for a second before it began to ease the pain that he had hardly realized was there until a moment ago. He could hear as she hummed under her breath once again, summoning healing power to his wound. Suddenly he was reminded of the first time that he had allowed her to perform this ritual on him. It felt like an eternity ago when the three of them had been deep under the earth fighting the vermin that lived there.

He had been badly bitten by one of them and Rhapsody insisted that he allow her to treat him. Finally giving in, she did the same thing then as she was now doing and had completely healed his wound.

_Grunthor moved closer to watch as she opened a phial with a pungent smell of spice and vinegar. Rhapsody soaked a clean linen handkerchief with the witch-hazel mixture and applied it directly to the wound._

_Achmed winced as the spice-soaked bandage began to drench the wound with its vile-smelling liquid, a dismal burning sensation beginning under the skin. "I hope you realize I don't need both hands to kill you, if it was your intent to deprive me of one."_

_Rhapsody looked up at him and smiled. Her face was bruised and bloody from the fight, but her eyes sparkled in the darkness. She was beginning to take to his sense of humor, and against his will Achmed felt an inner tug. Grunthor was right; she had a powerful smile._

"There, as good as new," Rhapsody declared as she removed the linen to reveal the quickly vanishing wound.

"That trick never ceases to amaze me," he said as he watched the last faint pick retreat from his shoulder. He looked up and cut her off before she was able to say the words that hung on her lips, "Yes, I know it's not a trick. Music is a map through the vibrations that make up the world and there is nothing more powerful than a given thing's name. Trust me, you have taught this to me and I grasp the concepts of it now. But I still don't understand how it all works. So, to me, it is a very powerful trick, or skill if you will, that you have command over."

"I see your point. And Achmed, that really is kind of scary when you already know exactly what I am going to say before I say it."

**"**That's what happens when two people have been together as long as we have**,"** he said smiling back to her.

She smiled in return before saying, "Now, you are still not completely well. You need to get more rest rather than be in here talking to me. I have a moot that I must get back to myself."

"No, you don't. You have been asleep through out the day. The moot has ended for today and the Cymrians are out there tearing up my lands and guzzling my wine making fools of themselves in their partying."

"Oh no, you mean I have missed the entire day?"

"Lucky you."

"But, what happened? What did Tristan have to say and what did the people decide to do with him? How did they run the election for Lord and who was elected? What else have I missed?"

"Calm down Rhapsody. As you have long said, the people were able to get alone without you; though I wouldn't think that this would be a good thing permanently, they were able to manage for a day.

'I haven't heard all of the details as yet, but from what I was able to gather, Tristan confessed to plotting against both you and Meridion in order to maneuver himself into a better position to become the next Lord. He also revealed that it was not his plan that he was acting on, but rather the plan of a third party that approached him through his assistant, Leah."

"Leah was in on this?"

"Leah was the one who engineered the whole thing."

"Gods. But who was she working for? Who was it that wanted to make Tristan Lord Cymrian?"

"That's just it. This person was smart. Tristan was never told who the girl's master was and because he was being given a plan to get what he wanted, he didn't press the issue. The only person who would know is Leah, and she managed to get herself killed in the fight."

"Damn."

"Yes, I know. But after the Meridion managed to get all the information out of Tristan that he could, the people decided that he should be striped of any and all power that he currently has and to be exiled out of any of the Cymrian allied nations. He was forced to choose between Sorbold or the Northland. He chose Sorbold and will be taken to the border after the moot has ended."

"Well, no one deserves that more that Tristan, but still I feel some pity for his wife and children, not to mention the child that she is currently carrying."

"I don't know what is to be done for her, but knowing how much you have instilled in your people that punishing the innocent is off limits, they should be well taken care of. As for the next Lord of Cymrian, that would be your son, Meridion. He won unanimously."

"Well that is great news to hear. I sincerely doubted that anyone else would be chosen, but the Cymrians have made odd decisions before."

At this, Achmed shifted uncomfortably where he sat. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he was unsure how to broach the subject.

"What is it?" she asked him. "What have my people decided now?"

Achmed uncomfortably cleared his throat a few times before he managed to begin. "It seems that your son went and did something rather rash today. Shortly after we left, Meridion brought forth an issue that I had thought was better left alone, but of course, being your son, he went ahead and brought it up anyway."

"Well, what?"

"Meridion explained to the people about… us."

Rhapsody sat silent for a moment, not sure if she could really believe what she had jus heard. "He didn't," she finally was able to utter.

Slowly, Achmed nodded his head before searching for words to continue. "He… brought up our fears of a marriage and asked the Cymrains if they could accept a union such as ours."

Fearing to ask, Rhapsody whispered, "And they said…"

"They consented."

Silence once again. Well, this was a situation that neither of them had ever dreamed would come about. The Cymrians had somehow gotten over their loathing and fear of the Firbolg seemingly over night. Now how were they to proceed?

"Well, this is unexpected," Rhapsody stammered as she tried to think of what to say for the situation. Luckily for her, Achmed had had a little more time to digest the issue than she and already knew what must be said and done.

Achmed nodded at her last comment as he solemnly stood and reached into his cloak and pulled something small that glittered in the faint light out. Dropping to one knee before her, he presented his small token to her. It was a silver ring with a ruby and a diamond setting.

"I have had this ring for a very long time now," the King began slowly and somewhat uncertainly. "I have never dared to hope that I might one day be able to present it to you, but as I am now able to, I can also ask you the question that I never thought I would be able to ask." He paused, taking a breath to steady his nerves as she sat, staring at him with love and expectance flowing from her eyes. A single tear was welling at the edge of a forest green eye that fluttered in pace with her heart beat.

"Rhapsody, will you marry me?"

"Yes," she whispered. "Yes. Oh, Yes!" She cried with more confidence as he slipped the ring onto her finger and lifted her from the bed. He held her in his arms and allowed himself to actually believe what had just happened, fearing that he would awaken at any moment to discover that all that had just happened was just a dream. A dream sent to torment and tease him with his greatest desire.

But now he felt it to be completely true. He was going to marry her and they were to be bound together as that ruby and diamond had been fused together, placed atop of a circle that never ended. Ether and blood, diamond and ruby.


	15. chapter 15

Chapter 15

Meridion flowed in and out of the well wishing and celebrating crowds as if in a trance, giving the necessary replies and thank-you's in an automatic fashion. Slowly, he found himself winding his way to where the Nain were gathered having their own celebration.

Passing Faedryth, he returned the salute that the leader gave him and moved on further into the Nain congregation. Finally, he came up to a high ranking official whom he had been introduced to the night before.

"Hello again sir, I thought that it would be nice to talk with you once again," he said.

"Yes, we had a very… interesting conversation last night, did we not?" the Nain replied

Meridion nodded.

"Here, your highness, why don't we go to my tent, that we may have a more private place to discuss things."

"Lead on."

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"I suppose that you're not going to want a public wedding, are you?" Rhapsody asked Achmed later that night.

Achmed looked over at her, his glace spoke all she needed to know.

"That's alright with me, I'm all for a private marriage. But the Cymrian's are also looking for a party and might feel slighted if we deny them of one."

"To hell with the Cymrian's. Those arse rags get their way too often and don't hardly deserve half the things that come their way."

Rhapsody smiled and nodded. She knew that he would feel that way, and his firm position made it somewhat easier for her to follow in step. Truly, she didn't like the idea of another public wedding. Rhapsody didn't even want the last one that she had. But, being that they were both the rulers of a nation, it was a rather important ceremony for the people. This union now was more for her than the people and Achmed certainly was not going to be any part of the Cymrian's, so they didn't need to witness their union.

"I'm glad you feel that way. We shall have a private ceremony and I will tell the Cymrians so tomorrow as the moot wraps up. When would you like to perform the ceremony?"

Looking up at her like she was crazy for asking he said, "Why not tonight? If we are not waiting for any real ceremony…"

Rhapsody smiled, she figured this was what he wanted, but she wanted to hear it from him. "You're right. Tonight it will be."

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Late that night, two complementing souls stood before an alter of pure fire that sprang from the depths of the earth. Utter peace and a feeling of fulfillment consumed the surrounding atmosphere. It was a picture of perfection and grace; opposite sides of the same coin finally being joined together.

Rhapsody stood, clothed in a deep violet gown that gently reflected the light from the whirling crown of diamonds of the Lirin. The gems sparkled with their own starlight, captured within the crystals. As they reached for each other's hands as Rhapsody began the chant of bonding, the starlit gems drifted from their path around her head to encircle their joined hands. The light became stronger and more intense as the diamonds spun faster and faster, shinning their light upon the clasped hands of the two monarchs.

Dimly, the alive, pulsing, rosy hue of the blood within their hands could be seen through the skin as the light became more intense. It felt as if they were becoming fused together as the Rhapsody continued her song, blending and mixing their names into one.

All elements of the Earth were present - fire from the well, starlight from the diamonds, earth surrounded them with the earth child sleeping nearby, water from their unchecked tears of joy, wind within both of their souls, with the life blood pulsing through their veins.

When the ceremony was complete, the two stood breathless in front of each other, hardly able to comprehend what had just happened; too afraid to speak for fear of shattering their moment. Finally, they moved in tandem into one another's arms and clung to each other for what felt like an eternity and yet only an instant.

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"I must admit Rhapsody, I have never felt so complete and whole as I do at this moment," Achmed confided to his new wife as they sat together on the stone bench beside the sleeping child.

A light of love and awe spilled through her eyes as she looked back upon the face of her new husband. Everything finally felt like it had fallen into place for them and it felt so right, so complete, that she wondered how she could have missed this for so long. "I feel the same, Achmed. How could I ever have overlooked the connection that we have to one another all of these years?"

"Because you had another to love. Now you are free to see all that is available to you and the blinders have been lifted from your eyes."

"Oh Achmed, I am so sorry that I had been so blind. And I am sorry, but I must admit that, as complete and in love as I am now, I still feel a hollow place where Ashe once was. I don't know if I'll ever fully ease the pain of losing him," she said with a sigh.

Achmed bowed his head for a moment as he thought how best to respond. Finally he looked back into her eyes once again, "I know. And I would never expect to be able to fill that place that he left inside your soul. Ashe held a part of you that I can never touch, as much as I might wish I could. The two of you were soul mates and that is no trifle thing. We are only soul matches, complements and fit together perfectly. We can never be one of soul because we are opposites in too many ways."

"Yes, I see what you mean, but I would not use the word 'only' when describing us. A soul match is many ways more wonderful than a soul mate. We are not automatically connected with each other. We have something to work at and to help grow. This in many ways can be considered a greater gift than to have your soul mate handed to you. We have choice, and choice is what determines the course of life and time."

He watched her for a moment longer, taking in all of her words. A latch deep inside seemed to lift, ever so slightly as what she was telling him rang true. It was much like the locks that Gwylliam had left about the mountain that were tuned to certain musical vibrations. She was right, they were able to choose to be together and that made it that much more special.

"Rhapsody… I have a gift for you," he said, finally making a decision.

"A gift? What for?"

"It was originally going to be a birthday present for you, after all tomorrow is your birthday. But now it seems that it would be best as a wedding gift."

"Oh, well please; you know how much I love gifts."

Slowly Achmed rose from the bench and stood in front of her, still holding onto one of her hands. He stood there for a moment looking very uncomfortable, trying to collect his nerve. This was something he hated to do but knew it was the most that he could ever give to the singer.

Finally, after clearing his throat several times he began to sing a song that Rhapsody had never heard from him before. Unlike the first one that he ever sang for her, this one suited his voice. He still had the rasping fricative sound to his voice, but the melody and sound of this new song felt right and sat well in his range, a haunting baritone and seemed to echo from the walls of the cave itself.

You ask me if I love you

And I choke on my reply

I'd rather hurt you honestly

Than mislead you with a lie

And who am I to judge you

On what you say or do?

I'm only just beginning to see the real you

And sometimes when we touch

The honesty's too much

And I have to close my eyes and hide

I want to hold you till I die

Till we both break down and cry

I want to hold you till the fear in me subsides

Romance and all its strategy

Leaves me battling with my pride

But through the insecurity

Some tenderness survives

I'm just another writer

Still trapped within my truth

A hesitant prize fighter

Still trapped within my youth

And sometimes when we touch

The honesty's too much

And I have to close my eyes and hide

I want to hold you till I die

Till we both break down and cry

I want to hold you till the fear in me subsides

At times I'd like to break you

And drive you to your knees

At times I'd like to break through

And hold you endlessly

At times I understand you

And I know how hard you've tried

I've watched while love commands you

And I've watched love pass you by

At times I think we're drifters

Still searching for a friend

A brother or a sister

But then the passion flares again

And sometimes when we touch

The honesty's too much

And I have to close my eyes and hide

I want to hold you till I die

Till we both break down and cry

I want to hold you till the fear in me subsides.

As he brought the song to an end silence settled within their hall. Achmed stood in front of his wife, seeing tears of joy and love pouring from the emerald jewels of her eyes. There was no room for anymore words. Everything that they felt for each other had been communicated up to one finale point. There was now only one last thing that could be said between them.

After waiting a moment longer, Achmed bent down and lifted Rhapsody from the bench and easily carried her up the tunnel of the Loritorium to their now shared chambers.

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Awakening upon the following morning, Rhapsody smiled at the still sleeping form of her new husband beside her. She had finally managed to wake up before him, but after last night, he must still be exhausted. A larger grin spread over her face as she relived the night's exploits.

Quietly, she rose from the bed to make both of them a breakfast, but unfortunately, Achmed was still a light sleeper and awoke as soon as she moved from his side. "Good morning," she smiled down at him as he opened his eyes. "I thought I could make us some breakfast before we begin this final long day ahead of us."

The king allowed a smile to pull at his lips as he answered, "That would be nice."

Rhapsody rose from the bed and began to dress as Achmed watched her, the smile slightly fading. As she was fastening her last button with her back still to him, he called out quietly, "Rhapsody?"

"Yes?" she answered, turning around and seeing for the first time the almost pensive frown the he now wore.

He stared at her for a moment, wondering what it was that he had wanted to say. "Rhapsody," he repeated, "this is real, isn't it? Last night, it wasn't a dream?"

Rhapsody allowed her retreating smile to return as she gently crossed to his side and knelt on the floor, taking his hand in hers. Softly, she brought his hand to her lips and kissed it before answering, "Oh yes! It was all real. You and I are finally bound together forever, as it should be."

Relaxing and allowing his happiness to take over once again, Achmed nodded and bent down to kiss her on the forehead. Then, using a gentle firm hand, he raised her chin slightly to kiss her deeply on the lips, bring a rush of feeling and emotions from the previous night to return. Rhapsody answered in like and before she knew what had happened she found her clothes on the floor once again and herself wrapped in his arms on the bed.

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Several hours later, Rhapsody found herself finally in front of the entire Cymrian gathering with Achmed by her side. When she announced that she and the King of the Firbolg were now married, a huge roar of approval rose up from the masses and resounded through the mountains proclaiming their union. Everything was as it should be; Meridion officially took his place as the new Lord beside his mother and the new order was established. It was now official, the Lady did not have to be married to the Lord and she or the Lord could enter a union with whomever they pleased as long as it caused no interference with their duties.

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As the moot began to break up and the different the peoples left to return to their different homes, an odd pair met in a shadowy niche.

"This changes everything, brother" the one said to the other.

"Yes, but we may still well accomplish what we set out to do. I… acquired a new ally that can swing this back in our favor. But the plans have now changed. You must send the sister to me as soon as you return."

"You are going to take the Lady?"

"No, she will come to me after she leaves you. All is settled. You will do nothing to her when she is within your reach. Send her on her way and leave the rest to me."

"As you wish, brother."

"Do not worry, all shall soon fall into place and then we shall rule all of the nations and I believe that this new plan will make taking the mountain even easier."

And with two equally evil grins, the pair parted, each returning to their own groups.

_A/N the song is, as some may recognize, is Sometimes When We Touch, by Dan Hill. Now, I heard this song when I was writing Promise and I knew that it would be a perfect Achmed song. Of course, when I hear him singing it, it is nothing like the actual song, only the lyrics really fit well. Sometime, if my compositional skills are ever good enough, I may include a midi file of what I think this song should sound like._

_p.s thank you all for your wonderful comments and reviews. It really inspires me to write more. And if anyone out there thinks I skimped on some part somewhere, it's probably because I wasn't sure what to put and I am open to anyone's suggestions to include._

_p.p.s. There will be one more story in the group, I'm working on it as fast as I can, but I have school, work, and a beta who wants me to finish other Fanfics first. So please be patient_


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